


Bitten in the Moonlight

by ExhaustedCommonSense



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: AU, F/M, Gen, Lily/Severus friendship, Werewolf!James, good!Peter
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-10-30
Updated: 2013-10-30
Packaged: 2017-12-30 22:48:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 41
Words: 76,575
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1024312
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ExhaustedCommonSense/pseuds/ExhaustedCommonSense
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>What if during one of their full moon adventures a horrible mistake was made and James Potter was bitten? What if he became a werewolf too? </p><p>Non-canon Seventh Year of the Marauders. </p><p>James/Lily.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. A Normal Year

**Author's Note:**

> James's POV

"This is the year boys!" Sirius sighed happily, sitting down next to Remus.

We were sat on the second to last compartment of the train and had just managed to put our trunks away before the train set off. I was sat closest to the window facing Sirius with Peter next to me.

"What's so special about this year?" Remus asked, playing absently with one of the bandages on his arm that he'd gained after the last full moon.

Oh yeah, there's a few things you should know about me and my friends; Remus Lupin, the smart Marauder who helps us learn the spells needed for pranks, also known as Moony, is a werewolf, now that doesn't mean he's an evil monster, he happens to be one of my best friends. He had mousy brown hair and looked completely normal until you saw his eyes which were light brown, but turned amber in the sun; sometimes he got a look that said he'd been through hell and back that made him look older than his seventeen years.

Then there's Sirius Black, known as Padfoot to the Marauders, the crazy one in our group with the great prank ideas, he was born into a dark family who believes in blood purity, he some how managed to turn out okay – if not a little crazy – and was put in Gryffindor, much to the disgust of his family. He ran away from when he was sixteen to live with me instead. He had black hair that fell in a way I could only dream of managing, with his blue eyes that looked grey, he really did look to come from a pure-blood family, but he was the player in our group too, and the girls just loved how he looked.

Finally, there's Peter Pettigrew, also known as Wormtail to the Marauders, the one who makes up all of our excuses and makes a great look out. He has a normal family and seems to be normal too, though he isn't the greatest with spells and tends to be a target for Slytherins. Peter was a little shorter than the rest of us, but only by an inch or so, he had dark blond hair and blue watery eyes, in the years since I'd met him, he'd lost his chubbiness – probably from all the running away from the teachers we did.

I'm James Potter, better known as Prongs, I'm the unofficial leader of the Marauders, I'm a pure-blood like Sirius, but my family is firmly in the light. I'd do anything for the Marauders; they're my life. My hair was black like Sirius's, but was impossible to tame, I often just messed it up even more, hoping for the 'just got off a broomstick' look, I had hazel coloured eyes, but wore glasses.

We found out about Moony's werewolf secret in Second Year, and decided to do everything possible to help him, even if it was dangerous. When we were in Fifth Year, we succeeded in becoming animagus so we could stay with him on full moons and stop him hurting himself.

That's why we have just strange nicknames; Wormtail for Peter since he changes into a rat, helpful for sneaking into places and setting up pranks. Padfoot for Sirius; he becomes a big black dog that often scares people because they think he's the Grim, but hilarious to freak the Divination teacher out with. Prongs for me, my animal is a stag that, while not helpful in any pranks, is helpful to keep control of Remus when he's in werewolf form. Remus is of course Moony, obviously because he changes on a full moon.

"This year," Sirius said, grinning happily. "Is our last year. Which means we have to go out with a bang!"

"Defiantly," I agreed. "If we don't lose at least a thousand house points before the end of our last year we don't deserve to be Marauders."

"As Head Boy, shouldn't you be encouraging us to gain points," Remus pointed out dryly.

Over summer, I'd gotten the shock of my life when I opened my Hogwarts letter and a Head Boy badge had fallen out. I was sure there had been a mistake, but according to the note in my letter, I was definatly Head Boy. Sirius had said that just proved Dumbledore was crazy.

"As Head Boy," Peter interrupted before I could say anything. "Shouldn't you be at the prefect meeting?"

Remus jumped up as if electrocuted, pulling me with him out of the compartment.

"I can't believe I forgot!" He exclaimed.

Remus had been made a prefect in Fifth Year, probably in hopes that he would be able to keep the rest of us Marauders in line. Instead it just made it so we could get away with more.

"Wonder who the Head Girl is," I commented as Remus nearly pulled my arm off, dragging me down the train to the prefect compartment.

Ignoring me, Remus opened the door of the first compartment and shoved me inside. Prefects from Fifth, Sixth, and Seventh Year and from all the houses were already there, so it seemed we were the last ones in.

"Sorry we're late, I completely forgot," Remus apologized, sitting down next to a Ravenclaw Sixth Year prefect.

"What's he doing here?" Someone demanded from behind me.

I turned around and saw Lily Evans standing behind me with her hands on her hips. Her red hair was loose and hung down past her shoulders, with the light shining on it, it looked to be on fire. She had wide green eyes that were unlike any colour I'd seen before, but always left me breathless.

"I asked what you were doing here Potter," Lily said again. "Since no one in their right minds would want you hanging around."

Did I forget to mention that she hated me? Admittedly I'd not been the nicest person to her in First Year, mostly because she'd been friends with Snivellus, who happened to be my worst enemy.

Unfortunately for me, even though Lily hated everything about me, she was the love of my life, as corny as that sounded. I'd asked her out nearly everyday since Second Year and as the years went by the only change of answer I'd gotten was the change from insults to hexes.

For Seventh Year, I'd decided to not ask her out anymore, no matter how much it hurt, because she obviously didn't feel the same way as me and I just wanted her to be happy.

"My friends want to be around me," I pointed out, trying to get my brain to function, something it never seemed to do when around Lily.

"I thought I said no one in their right mind," Lily counted, glaring slightly. "Anyway, Quidditch Captains aren't meant to be in here, no matter how important you might think the game is."

"Actually, I'm Head Boy this year," I admitted.

"What!" She shrieked. "No! You can't be! Dumbledore would have to be crazy!"

Remus let out a cough that didn't quite hide his laughter.

"Well, we better go get St Mungo's then, because I'm defiantly Head Boy," I pointed to the badge attached to my school robes.

This time it wasn't just Remus trying not to laugh; no one wanted Lily's anger turned on them instead.

"Fine," she sighed. "I'm Head Girl. So we'll be working together this year, but I swear if you try anything I'll hex you so badly you won't walk for a week."

I nodded and sat down, not really listening as Lily explained what everyone would be doing and who had which rounds. Instead I thought about how in Sixth Year I'd have done anything to be told I'd get to spend extra time with Lily, and how I wanted nothing more than to avoid her just then. If I wasn't around her, I wouldn't break my word to not ask her out.

Once the meeting was over, Remus and I walked back to our compartment and I sat down across from Sirius again, stealing one of his Chocolate Frogs.

"Who's Head Girl then?" Peter asked.

"Lily," I groaned, picking up another Frog.

Sirius winced. "Tough luck mate."

"Are we doing a prank at the feast?" Peter asked. "Or is our Head Boy going to behave."

"Of course we're doing a prank," I snorted at the thought of behaving.

As we looked through our trunks for anything to use in the prank, Sirius pulled out the Marauders Map; a map that let us see where everyone was in the castle at all times as long as we opened it with the password.

"You still got your invisibility cloak?" Remus asked, writing down ideas on a bit of parchment.

"Of course," I grinned, getting into the Marauder mood.

Sirius tapped the map with his wand. "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good."

We gathered around and figured out which prank would be used and where to set it up. I looked around my friends and couldn't stop the smile that made it to my face. It was going to be just another normal year at Hogwarts for the Marauders.


	2. Welcome Back

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> James's POV

Everything was ready.

We were sat at the Gryffindor table watching as the new First Years were sorted, our prank would start once Dumbledore stood up for the start of year speech, until then we were stuck waiting.

Everyone in the Hall kept giving us looks, it was Marauder tradition to do a prank at the welcome feast (or any feast really), so everyone was expecting something, and because it was our last year, they were expecting something big.

The sorting seemed to pass too slowly for us, but for everyone else, they didn't want it to end. Normally the prank was at the end of the feast, when everyone rushed to leave so they didn't get caught in it.

"Almost done now," Sirius said, grinning with anticipation.

"Everyone got their fireworks?" I asked, touching the fireworks that were hidden in my sleeves.

"Yep," Peter nodded. "And I'm ready to cast the spells."

"Good," I looked over at Remus. "Well Mr Moony, if you'd do the honours."

"Of course Mr Prongs," Remus pointed his wand at the floor and muttered a quick spell that no one noticed.

Finally, the last First Year was sorted into Ravenclaw and McGonagall rolled up her long list of students, taking her seat next to Dumbledore.

People were still shooting us suspicious looks as they ate, and a few people – mostly Slytherins – had their wands out and were checking all their food and drinks for anything that shouldn't be there. Some Gryffindors were only eating what we did so that they wouldn't be pranked.

"You know," Peter commented, watching as yet another Slytherin waved his wand over his plate. "For our next prank we should just not do anything."

"True," Remus snorted. "I think we've made people paranoid."

Some of the school looked relieved when the feast was over and nothing had happened, but most looked even more stressed, they kept looking from the door, to us, to Dumbledore, as if judging to see if they could make it out of the room by the time Dumbledore finished speaking, even if he hadn't even begun yet.

Desert came and went, the Second Years looked like they were going to explode if nothing happened soon, but the First Years just looked confused, only a few who had older siblings who had told them about us were nervous.

Then the prank began as Dumbledore stood up to start his speech.

We looked up at Dumbledore hopefully as he stood, and then burst out into successful laughter as his skin turned into a light blue.

The spell was one for the seats; everyone sat down had the same spell on them, which was activated once they stood up. The charm was a tricky one that changed your skin colour to suit your mood.

Our laughter just got worse as Dumbledore turned from blue which represented calm, to purple for surprised. Pulling ourselves together, we gave Peter the signal and he quickly cast two spells; one at us, and the other at the teachers.

"Now a few words before you go up to bed," Sirius said, his voice echoing around the Hall.

The spell Peter had cast at us was a Sonorous to amplify our voices, while the one at the teachers was a Silenco so they couldn't interrupt.

"First off we'd like to say that nobody will be harmed in this prank," Peter announced.

"At least we hope not," I said, just to make people panic a little.

Sirius waved a hand toward Dumbledore. "On your chairs was a nice charm that will change the colour of your skin to match your mood."

"This spell will only be activated when you stand up," Remus added.

I pointed my wand at the floor like Remus had done and vanished everyone's chairs, signalling to the others to stand up before I did.

It was a struggle not to laugh when Peter, Remus, Sirius, and I turned yellow for happy. Most people had changed to yellow like us, though both Lily and Snape were a red for anger, and McGonagall was an orange for annoyed. She was far too used to our pranks by now to get angry.

"Anyway," I continued. "Since none of the teachers can speak, we'll have to take over the start-of-term notices."

"First off, everyone should note that the Forbidden Forest is off limits to everyone isn't a Marauder," Remus listed.

"Because we're awesome like that," I butted in.

"Second of all," Peter took over. "There is a list of banned items in Filch's office, please go check it out."

"Anyone who breaks all of his rules wins a bar of Honeydukes Chocolate off our Head Boy!" Sirius cheered.

"That's me!" I waved.

"No magic should be used in the corridors," Sirius said.

"But you can ignore that one because everyone does," Remus pointed out.

"Better listen to him," Peter said in a stage whisper. "He's a prefect."

"The most important notice is, of course, about Quidditch!" I grinned when some people cheered.

"Trials are held in the second week of term, if you're interested, go see Madame Hooch," Peter continued.

"Finally," I sighed. "Please welcome our new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher."

"But don't get too used to him," Sirius looked over at the new teacher who was glaring at us. "He'll be gone by the end of the year thanks to some curse that makes us change teaches every year!"

"That would be everything," Remus looked over at the teachers table, as if checking to see how angry the teachers were.

"So, you lot had better get to bed!" Peter made shooing motions with his hands.

"Please follow your prefects to your Common Rooms," I commanded.

"Anyone who gets lost will be sold to the centaurs," Sirius grinned at the First Years who looked petrified.

"Also," I added. "Don't worry about your skin, once you go through the Great Hall door, it will be washed off."

Lily, who looked to be getting angrier every second by the look of her skin; that was even redder than her hair, marched over to the door.

Before she could open it, we raised our arms and let the fireworks we'd hidden up our sleeves go, watching as they exploded in the air against the night sky background of the ceiling.

Nearly everyone was now a nice yellow colour, only a few grumpy students or teachers were left in red or orange. Dumbledore was a mixture of yellow and blue, which strangely suited his robes.

Peter cancelled the spells on our voices so that we could talk at normal sound level, unfortunately, this meant the teachers could speak as well.

A fact McGonagall proved when Lily opened the Great Hall door and water flooded the Hall, washing everyone's skin but leaving them soaked in the process.

"Messrs Black, Potter, Pettigrew, and Lupin!" McGonagall shouted, walking over to us while the prefects led the students to the Common Rooms. "I would take points away, but since we currently have none I'll just have to give you detention!"

That was the one problem of being a Marauder: detention.

"You are to clean this Hall until it's back to normal, without using magic," she said. "And I want it done before tomorrow morning."

Grumbling, we nodded and began cleaning.

"I bet you're glad we didn't go with the food fight idea now," I smiled over at Peter.

Once everything was clean enough by McGonagall's standards, we left the Hall, walking up the stairs to the Gryffindor Tower. Lily was already waiting for us in the Common Room when we climbed through the portrait hole.

"Just what were you thinking?" She demanded, immediatly blaming me. "You're meant to be Head Boy!"

"It was only for fun Lily," Remus interrupted, stopping me before I could say anything I'd regret later.

Lily then turned her anger towards Remus then, suprising since she was normally friends with him. "Don't even get me started on you, you're meant to be a prefect! I thought you were the sensible one! Some role models you two make."

"Come on Prongs, Moony, we better go," Sirius said, pulling on my arm.

Trying my hardest to ignore Lily's muttering about how awful we were, I walked up to our dorm. We had a dorm to ourselves because our room mate had complained of sharing a room with us, so it was just us Marauders.

"Do you think I have any chance with her?" I asked, laid back in my bed after getting ready.

No one answered, Peter had already fallen asleep and neither Remus nor Sirius knew what to say.


	3. The Patronus Charm

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> James's POV

Our first morning back at Hogwarts, we fell into our normal routine that we'd made in First Year out of necessity. Remus woke us all up and then got in the shower, waking us up again when he got out.

I'd get a shower before Sirius could because he spent ages on his hair, while mine just stayed how it was, not even water could neaten it out. Peter preferred to shower before bed, so it was my job to wake him up for the third time while Sirius did his hair.

After hexes were exchanged for the wake up calls, we got dressed and went down to the Great Hall where we sat near to the end in the same place as always. Normally Peter, Sirius, and I would quickly finish homework off or copy off Remus while eating breakfast, but because it was the first day back, we could eat our breakfast peacefully.

McGonagall came around and gave everyone their schedules, stopping for a moment to tell me as Quidditch Captain, I'd have to watch the try outs plus the date and time she'd booked for the try outs.

"Think I'll get on the team again?" Sirius asked.

"If you do my potion for me in class then I'll think about it," I teased.

Sirius snorted. "Please, if you can find a better Beater than me I'll do all your potions for you plus the essays."

"And I thought James was the one with the ego," Remus chuckled.

Sirius stuck his tongue out at him before filling his plate with everything in front of him. I settled for some simple cereal. I was always amazed by Sirius's ability to eat so much food.

"What do we have today then?" Peter asked reaching over me for the bacon.

"Divination, Defence Against the Dark Arts, Charms, and Transfiguration," I said, glancing down at my schedule.

"I honestly don't see why you bother with Divination," Remus commented. "It's nonsense."

"It's an easy pass," I explained as if I was saying one plus one made two. "Something Ancient Runes isn't."

"It's such a useless subject," Remus sniffed.

"You only don't like it because you can't touch the tea pot," I teased.

The tea pot in the Divination room was made out of silver, a substance werewolves were allergic to.

"I don't take Divination," Sirius offered.

Sirius took Muggle Studies, not because he was interested, but because he knew it would annoy his parents, which is something it defiantly did. We all took Care of Magical Creatures though, so we only had one lesson where we were in different classes.

"What are you even planning on doing after school?" Remus asked.

"Auror," Sirius and I said immediately, exchanging grins.

"What about you, Wormtail?" Remus looked at Peter as if hoping he'd have a more sensible job.

"I'm not sure, maybe an Obliviator," Peter shrugged.

"And you Moony, what's your grand plan?" Sirius asked.

"Well, you know I can't really get a good job," Remus blushed, taking a drink of his Pumpkin Juice.

"But if you could," I said. "What would you be?"

"A teacher," Remus blurted, still blushing. "Preferably Defence Against the Dark Arts."

"Maybe Dumbledore will hire you," Peter suggested, smiling at him.

"Maybe," he muttered. "Anyway, we better go get our books from the dorm, and then get to class."

With a groan, we reluctantly left the food behind, once again climbing up the stairs leading to our dorm.

"Why did Gryffindor have to have a tower?" Sirius whined, collapsing on his bed while I picked up the books I'd need and put them in a bag.

"Stop complaining," I said. "We're going to be late for class."

Glaring slightly at me, Sirius followed me out of the dorm. Peter and I said goodbye to Remus and Sirius as they went off to Ancient Runes and Muggle Studies, and then began making our way to the Divination room, which was, unfortunately, at the top of another tower. Even our short cuts didn't manage to cut out all the stairs.

Finally, we made it to the top and stopped to try and breathe before climbing up the ladder into the classroom. We got a table at the back where our teacher tended to forget about us.

"Today we'll be reviewing our work with the crystal ball," Professor Hilliam said.

Like most days, Professor Hilliam did indeed forget about us, which left us to talk in the back of class, only occasionally telling us to do some work.

"What are we meant to be seeing?" I asked, staring into the foggy ball.

Unluckily for us, Professor Hilliam decided to come over to check our work. She peered over our shoulder expectantly.

"Erm, let's see," Peter looked at the glass ball. "I see a lot of white smoke, so either I'm going to start smoking, or you should cancel Quidditch due to fog."

Professor glared at me when I snorted and took five points from Gryffindor for not taking the lesson seriously.

"That's five points we've lost," I said cheerily as we walked into the DADA classroom.

"What did you do?" Remus asked, coming to sit next to Peter as Sirius took the spare seat next to me.

"We didn't do anything!" Peter protested. "Professor Hilliams' obviously doesn't posses the Inner Eye like I do and is clearly jealous."

I snorted. "What do you think this teacher will be like?"

Sirius glanced over at the empty teacher's desk. "Not sure, but he seemed grumpy last night."

"Maybe that's because your 'Inner Eye' prophesised that he wouldn't last to next year," Remus suggested dryly.

"Well it's true!" I defended. "None of our DADA teachers have lasted longer than a year."

"Still," Peter said reasonably. "He probably didn't appreciate being told he'd only last a year."

Our argument was interrupted by the arrival of our professor. He still looked grumpy; he had dark brown hair that was thinning out with his age and eyes that looked to be black but under closer inspection were actually a very dark brown. His face seemed creased in a permanent scowl.

"Right, I'm here to teach you Defence Against the Dark Arts," he began. "My name is Professor Redburn."

I looked around the room, searching as always for Lily. She was sat in her normal seat up near the front of the classroom, already there was a quill in her hand, balanced over a piece of parchment and ready to take notes.

"Today we will be practising the Patronus Charm; a useful charm used to repel Dementors and Lethifolds," Professor Redburn instructed. "Since we can't bring either of those creatures in, you will have to hope you are able to do the charm when faced with them."

Lily was copying down everything Professor Redburn was saying, out of the corner of my eye I saw Remus doing the same. We'd studied Patronus's before in Fifth Year when we studied Dementors, but we'd never been given the chance to practise the charm.

"The spell is Expecto Patronum, the first person to conjure a non-corporeal Patronus will get twenty house points, the first to conjure a corporeal Patronus will get fifty house points," I could have sworn Professor Redburns lips twitched upwards slightly when everybody began to sit up straighter at the mention of house points. "The Patronus Charm is a highly complex charm that many qualified wizards and witches have difficulty with, I have high doubts of anyone managing a true corporeal Patronus before the end of the year."

Instead of discouraging everyone, his words only made them more determined to prove him wrong. I caught Sirius's eye and he winked at me, proving that he, at least, would try his hardest in this class, instead of the bare minimum he normally did in any other class.

"For this charm, there is no special wand movements, the only thing you need to do is concentrate on a happy memory, it has to be a very powerful memory, then just speak the incantation; Expecto Patronum!"

A silver wolverine burst of his wand, the wolverine prowled around the room before disappearing in wisps of silver smoke. The class gaped at Professor Redburn, then quickly got their wands out and began practising the charm.

I searched my mind for a happy memory that would be powerful enough to use to make a Patronus. Eventually I decided on the day I met Sirius on the train in First Year.

"Expecto Patronum!" I cast, concentrating on the memory. Little wisps of smoke came out of my wand, but it was no where near as powerful as Professor Redburns had been.

I gained ten points for Gryffindor because even though I was the first to manage even a non-corporeal Patronus, because it was so weak I wasn't entitled to the full twenty points until I managed something more powerful.

By the end of class, only Lily, Remus, Sirius, Frank, four Hufflepuffs, and I had managed a non-corporeal Patronus. We left the classroom muttering about how next time we'd manage a corporeal Patronus, even knowing it wasn't true. Luckily though, we didn't get any homework, something we found suspicious until we walked into Charms, a class we also shared with Hufflepuff, after a quick lunch in the Great Hall.

"Today we will be reviewing the Patronus Charm, something I believe you're practising in Defence Against the Dark Arts," Professor Flitwick squeaked. "You won't be casting the charm in this class, since you will be doing that with Professor Redburn."

A groan filled the class; if we weren't practising the charm, then everyone knew that meant we would be studying it instead. We left the class with an essay to write about everything we knew about the Patronus Charm.

Transfiguration was slightly better. We took our normal seats at the back of class, while I watched Lily take a seat close to the front, digging in her bag for a new bit of parchment. She scowled at me when she realized i was watching her, firmly turning her back to me and starting a conversation with Alice, Frank's girlfriend.

"We shall be reviewing our work with Animagus today, a Transfiguration that is linked loosely with the Patronus Charm," McGonagall said in her strict voice. "Can anyone tell me how they are linked?"

Lily's hand shot into the air, one of the few that did. "Unless the caster goes through an emotional upheaval, the corporeal Patronus is the animal the caster would transform into should they choose to become an Animagus."

"Correct, five points to Gryffindor," McGonagall awarded. "Both the Animagus form and the corporeal Patronus are a symbol of your personality. Though a Patronus can change shape and an Animagus form cannot, even the change will represent you."

"How old was the youngest person to complete what it takes to be an Animagus successfully?" I asked, shooting a smirk at Sirius.

"I believe the youngest in history was a medieval Druidess called Cliodne, someone I'm sure you all know from Chocolate Frog cards. She was rumoured to be around twenty when she managed to complete the Animagus process into a Sea Bird," McGonagall answered.

I shared a look with Peter and Sirius, we were only fifteen when we became Animagi in Fifth Year. Remus finished his notes and then looked up at us, raising an eyebrow and underlining Cliodne's age.

"I want an essay on your personality traits and what you think you would become if you were an Animagus, if you manage to cast a Patronus before the essay is due, write it down and discuss why you think you would transform into that animal," McGonagall said as the bell sounded for the end of class. "There is a spell in the library that lets you reveal your Animagus form without transforming, anyone who finds this spell for their essay will receive extra marks."

After dinner in the Great Hall, Remus met up with Lily to go search the Library for the spell that would reveal their Animagus forms. I decided I'd wait until Remus came back with the spell before starting my Transfiguration essay since I'd have no way of explaining how I knew my Animagus form without it.

Instead I opened my Charms and Defence Against the Dark Arts books and began my Charms essay, borrowing facts off Sirius and Peter every so often as we read each others paper.


	4. Animagus

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Do I really have to keep saying this is James's POV? The whole story is his POV.

In Transfiguration the next day we were told we would have to read our essays out to the class, something no one seemed to like the idea of. I didn't understand why McGonagall would want us to read something like that out; the essay was meant to be personal.

McGonagall called us up in alphabetical order, which meant Sirius was up first. Luckily, Sirius wasn't in the slightest bit bothered about reading out his essay.

"Right, thanks to the spell Forma Revelet I found out my Animagus form would be a black dog," Sirius read from his parchment. We'd checked with Remus before writing to see if the spell included colours. "This means that my personality traits should be; loyal, faithful, trusting, devoted, and protecting. The colour is probably just because of my hair; I refuse to look into it more than that."

Sirius took his seat; I thumped him on the back and watched as a Hufflepuff girl was called up, her form was apparently a fox. Then it was the essay I was interested in; Lily stood up and moved to the front of the class, a blush already beginning on her cheeks.

"Using the spell Forma Revelet, I realized my animal would be a doe," Lily's voice grew more confident as she spoke, but a warm glow of happiness settled in my stomach when she said her animal was a doe. "The doe is a representation of many things, the ones I believe are for me are; gentleness, grace, love, kindness, sensitivity, and independence."

Lily's face was glowing red by the time she sat down; I was reminded randomly of the prank we'd pulled at the Welcome Feast.

Frank's Animagus was an owl, and then Remus walked up with his essay, smiling slightly before beginning to read.

"My animal would be a wolf, for those of you that know me this will come as no surprise," the Marauders and Lily chuckled slightly at this; we were the only ones other than the teachers that knew Remus was a werewolf. Even though Lily knew about Remus, she didn't know the rest of the Marauders were Animagi. Snape, unfortunatly, also knew. I looked over at him to see his face twisted into a sneer. The rest of the class just looked confused.

"The wolf represents many things, too many for me to list, so I've chosen the ones I believe suit me, though I'll admit my friends bullied me into adding some of them," Remus grinned in our direction, gaining confidence. "I should be unafraid of death, intelligent, have a close family, skilful with protection and outwitting enemies, loyal, able to teach, cunning, invisible when necessary, successful, persevering, stable, and thoughtful."

Finally, we reached P and Peter got up nervously. "My Animagus would be a rat, known for being shy, quiet, sneaky, and having an attention to detail."

Short but straight to the point, Peter sat back down, still shaking, but sent me a small smile when I stood up next.

"I used the spell Forma Revelet to reveal my Animagus form, my animal would be a stag," I read, sneaking a quick glance at Lily as I read. Her eyes widened slightly when I'd said my animal, but then she went back to taking notes, refusing to look at me. "A stag can mean many traits, and I don't know which ones would suitably match me. The ones I'd like to believe represent me are; swiftness, alertness for danger, love, pride, strength, and nobility. There are some traits of a stag that I know I don't possess; innocence, sensitivity, independence, and purification."

I went back to my seat while people stared at me in shock; they'd expected me to make a joke, or at least acknowledge that mine and Lily's animals were a pair. Even Lily looked surprised when I just sat down, her eyes met mine briefly before she looked away to focus on Alice who'd taken my place at the front of the class.

When we reached S it was Snape's turn to read his essay, instead of tuning it out like I had with the rest of the Slytherins, I decided to listen. My dad's advice of 'know your enemy' rang through my head.

"Apparently my animal would be a black panther," Snape said, looking like the words were being forced out of him. "The traits for my animal are swiftness, cunning, strength, perseverance, boldness, gaining confidence, ability to know the dark, and understanding of death."

I was surprised by Snape's animal, especially since he shared certain traits with both Remus and I. Sirius picked up my essay and read it while Snape sat back down, raising his eye brows at the matches he found.

"I expected a snake or something like that," Sirius muttered as another Slytherin read their essay.

"So did I," I agreed.

Eventually everybody had read their essays, so McGonagall let us go a little before the bell. Which meant we arrived at Potions just as the bell rang. Professor Slughorn let us in, looking surprised that we were there so early.

"Can you believe Potter's animal?" I heard Lily ask one of her friends as we walked into Potions. "I don't think he's any of the things a stag should represent."

I barely heard Lily's friend snicker and agree, though Alice tried to defend me. A cold feeling settled like a dead weight in my stomach, without asking to leave, I left the classroom before Slughorn could even realize I'd been there to start with.

At the lunch break I was cornered by Remus, Peter, and Sirius when I sat at the end of the Gryffindor table to wait for them.

"What's wrong with you?" Sirius asked bluntly, sitting across from me. "We had to tell Slughorn you were ill."

"Nothing," I said, wishing they'd let it drop.

"You didn't even mention the fact Lily's Animagus and yours matched," Peter pointed out, picking up a sandwich from his place next to Sirius.

"If she doesn't want to be with me, I'm not going to bother her anymore," I sighed, glancing over to where she was talking with Alice and another girl further down the table.

"Do you still like her?" Remus asked.

"Of course I do," I snapped. "I love her. But she doesn't love me."

"She doesn't know you," Peter said.

"She doesn't want to," I muttered, taking a bite of my lunch.

Lunch was over pretty quickly, soon enough we were back in the Defence class room practising Patronus's. A few more people managed a non-corporeal Patronus, but nobody got any further than that.

"You know, we haven't done any pranks other than the Welcome Feast one yet," Sirius commented.

A Hufflepuff practising the charm made a small squeaking noise and quickly moved away from us, clearly not wanting to be the unfortunate soul the Marauders would prank next. This made us snicker and other students edge away as well.

"True," I nodded. "When's the next 'animal night'?"

'Animal night' was the code we'd invented for the full moon so that no one would find out about Remus's secret. It had been Peter's idea, and once we became Animagi the name just stuck.

"In a few weeks," Remus glared at the scratch on his arm where a bandage used to lie.

He must have gone to Madame Pomfrey to heal it; his father had died a couple of years after Remus had been bitten, he used to work as an Auror so it hadn't been an unexpected death. His mother was a squib, which meant she couldn't heal him after full moons except with muggle medicine. Though his Aunt sometimes healed him, he still needed to see Madame Pomfrey to be properly healed at the beginning of every school year.

"Shame," Sirius sighed.

Remus huffed, obviously not sharing Sirius's opinion. While an Animagus could transform into animal form with no pain, a werewolf had to go through unbelievable pain every full moon. Remus once described it as 'worse than the Cruciatus Curse'.

Class was dismissed and we luckily had a free last lesson which Remus used to finish his essays and Peter and Sirius played chess, ending with Sirius dancing around the Common Room and Peter demanding another rematch.

"I'm going down to the kitchens," I announced. "Want anything?"

Sirius and Peter shook their heads, involved in another game; by the look of it Peter was going to be in checkmate in fewer than five moves. Behind his books, Remus didn't even seem to hear my question, so I shrugged and left the Common Room, taking a short cut down the Charms corridor.

"Filthy little mudblood!" Someone spat.

I looked up and wasn't at all shocked to see Snape's sneering face, though I was surprised when I identified Lily as the one he was talking to.

"Don't call her that!" I shouted, pointing my wand at him and disarming him with a simple Expelliarmus. He was lucky it wasn't a worse spell.

If looks could kill I'd have been a corpse on the floor after the glare Snape sent at me before slinking away, taking his wand back before leaving. Of course, instead of simply thanking me, Lily turned on me once he was gone.

"What did you do that for?" She demanded.

"Sorry," I bit out. "I thought you might want help, obviously I was wrong." I continued down the corridor without looking back at her. For the first time in my life, I walked away from a fight with Lily Evans.


	5. Silver Wolf

Lessons continued as normal, everybody in our class could now perform a non-corporeal Patronus, but no one seemed any closer to advancing towards a corporeal one.

The second weekend back at Hogwarts arrived and before I knew it I was on the Quidditch pitch watching potential team members try not to fall off their brooms.

"Okay, this year we need a Seeker and a Beater," I shouted, getting everyone's attention. "Please split into groups, all Beaters at one side and Seekers at the other." I pointed to separate sides as I spoke.

I started with the Seekers, sending them all into the air to see who could last the longest with Sirius shooting bludgers at them. When only five were still on their brooms I stopped them and told the five remaining to go wait by the rest of the team.

The Beater test was a bit harder, they had to hit the Quidditch team while avoiding any bludgers Sirius sent at them. Only four potential Beaters were left by the time I called the exercise to a stop; apparently the ability to hit a bludger while avoiding them was a rare skill.

Giving the same request to the Beaters as I had to the Seekers, I sent them to one side where the Seekers were waiting and then brought them back one by one to see how well each of them flew with the team.

"Thank you all for coming," I said once everyone had tried out. "The announcement should be on the notice board in the Gryffindor Common Room by the end of the week."

When everybody had left except the team and the remaining Marauders, I asked the team which students they thought would make a good addition and which wouldn't. I liked my team to have a choice in who their team mates were, it helped them become friends, which helped them work together.

After giving their opinions the team got changed and left, leaving just us Marauders in the changing rooms. Sirius and I took a quick shower and then joined Remus and Peter outside.

"Next week," Remus sighed unhappily.

"Any certain day?" Peter asked, realizing he was on about the full moon. "That way we can avoid getting into trouble on that day."

"Sunday," Remus said dully.

"Another late night for the Marauders then," Sirius grinned, throwing his arm around Remus as we entered the Great Hall for dinner; Quidditch try outs had taken all day.

"Prank tomorrow morning," I said, scooping some potatoes onto my plate.

"What you got in mind?" Sirius asked.

"Not a clue," I laughed. "But we need to do a prank."

"Something simple," Remus commented.

"Something to do with the Slytherins," Peter added.

With a brilliant idea in mind, I began to describe my plan to the other Marauders, it was unbelievably simple and probably a mixture of things we'd already done with a twist, but that didn't really matter.

Breakfast in the Great Hall on Monday morning was full of expectation. None of the Slytherins had entered the Hall and breakfast was nearly over, combined with our grins people were soon staring at the doors, waiting for the Slytherins to make an appearance.

McGonagall looked annoyed again, but until the Slytherins turned up she couldn't punish us, there was simply no proof we'd done anything.

When the Slytherins finally did walk through the doors everyone burst out laughing. Each Slytherins hair was a neon green except Snape's whose hair was electric pink, and on top of that, their skin was dotted with bright yellow stars that occasionally moved. Overall it ruined the whole 'scary Slytherin' image.

McGonagall escorted us to Dumbledore's office before the bell went for classes and then walked off to teach her Second Year class. The password was 'Blood Pop'.

"Do sit down boys," Dumbledore said, his eyes twinkling in a way only his ever did.

We each took a seat in front of him, not in the slightest bit nervous; we'd been sent to Dumbledore's office so often we knew where everything was. I knew the worst he'd do for the prank would be a detention with Filch.

"What's the punishment this time Professor?" Sirius asked, grinning in a way that showed he didn't feel at all guilty and helping himself to a Lemon Drop.

"I'm afraid, Mr Black, you all have a detention tonight polishing the trophies in the Trophy Room without magic." Dumbledore paused with a smile. "And you have to tell me the counter curse; Professor Slughorn did not think it was appropriate for his Slytherins to be walking around in such bright colours."

"There is no counter curse," Remus said proudly; the spell was one we'd invented ourselves.

"It wears off in a week though," Peter piped up.

"In that case it would seem you are late for class," Dumbledore folded his hands on the table. "Should I write you a pass?"

"No need," I shook my head with a mischievous grin. "The teachers are used to us being late."

We could hear Dumbledore chuckling as we left. Peter and I had to walk up to the Divination classroom, by the time we actually got into class it was close to ending, but that was ok because Professor Hilliam claimed her 'Inner Eye' had told her they'd be late and had prepared extra homework for us so we could catch up.

Unfortunately, that meant we had extra homework and a detention to do that night, or at least we should have done, but Peter and I agreed to just skip the catch up work and guess a lot. Basically what we did in Divination anyway.

After Divination we met back up with Sirius and Remus for Defence. We were still working on the Patronus Charm, but Professor Redburn said it would probably be the last week we spent on it.

"Expecto Patronum!" I'd chosen the first prank I'd pulled with the Marauders as my memory, but I still only got silver fog, though it was more powerful then any of my other tries.

"Getting better Mr Potter," Professor Redburn said. "But you need a more powerful memory."

It was the same advice every time; I couldn't seem to pick a happy enough memory to make a corporeal Patronus, though I thought I was getting closer.

"Expecto Patronum!" I heard Remus cast.

I looked up at him in time to see a silver animal burst out of his wand instead of fog like every other time he'd tried. The whole class stopped what they were doing and stared at Remus as his Patronus prowled around the room.

Just like his Animagus would have been, Remus's Patronus was a wolf around the same size as Sirius in Padfoot form. The wolf looked a lot like Moony did on the full moon, but there were a few noticable differences between it and Moony as a werewolf.

When the wolf finally disappeared in a swirl of silver mist, Remus blushed a bright red, ducking his head, but I saw a happy grin on his face.

"Well done Mr Lupin!" Professor Redburn congratulated, looking just as shocked as the class. "Fifty points to Gryffindor."

"Congrats Moony," Peter clapped him on the back, breaking the silence.

Everybody went back to trying the charm, this time even more determined.

"What memory did you use?" I asked, Peter and Sirius listened with interest.

"The time you told me you wouldn't abandon me no matter what. The feeling of belonging," Remus said, still blushing.

Sirius looked thoughtful for a moment before nodding slowly. "Of course, your happiest memory would have been belonging because it was a dream come true. I don't think we'll manage the charm until we feel something as important as that."

I thought of what event would be as important to me as belonging was to Remus; a vision of Lily in my arms smiling up at me with love in her eyes immediately entered my mind.

I looked over at Lily and saw she was holding her wand up with her eyes closed, silver fog was pouring out of her wand and surrounding her, I thought she looked like some mystical fairy with her red hair glowing in the middle of the silver. I saved the image into my memory, never wanting to forget it.

Sighing, I turned away from Lily and gave up my hopes of ever conjuring a corporeal Patronus; there was no chance of my vision ever coming true. Instead I focused on my memory of the first full moon the Marauders joined Moony and let him into the forest.

Casting non-corporeal Patronus's would be all I'd ever manage, so I figured I might as well find which memory gave me the most powerful fog. It wasn't too big of a deal; I knew some fully qualified witches and wizards had problems with the spell, but that didn't stop the pang I felt in my heart when I looked over at Lily.


	6. Dangerous Mistakes

Sirius jumped into the spare seat next to Remus, making Remus wince and rub his head to try ward off a head ache that was inventible when near Sirius and that close to a full moon. Sirius was bouncing in his seat, looking like he was about to explode with excitement.

"Tonight's the night," Sirius grinned. "It just doesn't feel like Hogwarts until after the 'animal night'."

We were sat in the Common Room waiting for the sun to go down; it was the night of the full moon and in just a few hours we'd be sneaking down to the Whomping Willow to join Moony.

"Oh yeah," Remus muttered dryly. "Nothing says 'welcome back' like a night with a werewolf."

Peter snickered at Remus's sarcasm, not paying attention to what he was doing, making our pile of cards explode and set his fringe on fire.

I was playing Exploding Snap with Peter, while Sirius watched the sky outside, and Remus took another Pepper-Up Potion. Steam poured out of his ears, joining the smoke coming off the pack of cards, and he looked a little better, leaning down to finish off his Charms essay.

"Potter," a voice behind me spat.

I turned around slowly, recognizing the voice straight away, but unable to understand why she was talking to me. My heart gave a small twinge, but I stubbornly ignored it.

"Lily," I acknowledged.

"We have to go do rounds," Lily said, looking like she'd rather have all her teeth pulled out than spend alone time with me.

I saw the rest of the Marauders go pale as they heard her; there was no way I'd be able to do rounds and stay with Moony when the moon came up.

"Erm, right, let me put these away," I stuttered, holding up my slightly burnt cards. "I'll meet you there."

Lily glared at me before turning away and walking out of the portrait hole, her hair nearly whipping me as she left. I stood there staring after her for a bit before pulling myself together.

"Don't worry; I'll ditch Lily before the moon comes up and meet you in the Shrieking Shack before you transform." I explained in a whisper.

"Maybe it would be best if I just went alone," Remus said doubtfully.

"No!" Peter, Sirius, and I shouted at once, knowing how much pain he would go through if he tried to go through it alone.

While Peter and Sirius tried to calm Remus down, assuring him I'd get there in time, I met Lily outside of the Common Room. She started walking before I was even fully out of the portrait hole. Luckily, that meant it would be easier to ditch her once the moon came up without her noticing, since Sirius and Peter had my invisibility cloak to follow Remus.

My chance to escape came when we caught two Sixth Year Ravenclaws kissing on the Astronomy Tower. If I'd have caught them alone, I'd have laughed and said sorry for interrupting before telling them to go to bed with a warning. Lily, however, went mad, shouting at them and ordering them back to their Common Room straight away.

On the bright side, as she was dealing with the Ravenclaws, I was able to edge away slowly before running down the steps and escaping out of the front door, tripping over something invisible on my way down the steps.

"Well done Prongs," Peter mumbled, pulling the cloak off him and Sirius at the bottom of the steps.

"Sorry," I smiled, brushing the dirt and dust off my robes.

Sirius threw the cloak back over us and we set off towards the Whomping Willow together, hitting the knot on the trunk of the Willow and bending down so we could fit inside the tunnel leading to the Shrieking Shack.

Remus was already in the bedroom upstairs where he normally waited for us, he looked beyond relieved when he saw us. Clearly he hadn't believed me when I'd told him I'd be able to get there in time.

Before he could say anything though, the moon rose fully and he was forced into the transformation, shaking on the floor, screams were pulled from his body as he twitched and jerked. His body slowly changing and painfully changing.

We changed into our animal forms while he went through the painful process of becoming a werewolf. From experience, we knew not to approach him yet, letting him finish the transformation and then he had to make to first move.

Thankfully, after the amount of times we'd been with him on a full moon, Moony recognized us straight away, bounding over to us and growling playfully at Padfoot. Taking the bait, Padfoot pounced at him.

Watching Padfoot and Moony play fight on the floor, I bent my head down and let Wormtail climb onto my head between my antlers. Moony knew not to hurt Wormtail, but there were times when he'd nearly been accidentally stepped on by all of us.

Once the fight was over and Moony looked tired enough, we led him out of the house. It was a habit to let Padfoot wear Moony out before leaving the house; it made him a lot easier to control if we came across any people.

We explored the Forbidden Forest for a bit, trying to creep close to the animals hiding in the trees and bushes. We stayed in the forest until Padfoot gave me the signal that said Moony was ready to go.

Every time we took Moony out of the shack we had a routine we had to follow; Padfoot played with him until he was tired, then we took him to the forest where he was able to run around chasing other animals for a bit. If we thought Moony was fully in control, we'd explore the grounds at Hogwarts or go to Hogsmeade.

That night though, we'd chosen to stay in the forest; Moony had been anxious and a bit harder to control than normal. It took all our energy to stop him from running away.

We decided it would be best to go back to the shack because Moony was just too hard to control. The night was only early, so we were in for a long night trapped inside the shack.

"Potter!" Someone shouted as we neared the Whomping Willow.

I jerked my head up and saw a figure holding a piece of paper in their hands by the entrance of the school. Looking closer I realized it was Lily and briefly wondered how she'd found me.

I didn't have time to think of it though because Moony had seen Lily too. Padfoot tackled him to stop him going after her. I quickly let Wormtail off my head so I could trap Moony with my antlers.

Unfortunately, Moony got free of Padfoot's grasp and began running towards Lily who didn't know what was coming after her and was still stood on the steps looking for me.

Almost like I didn't have control of my own body, I transformed back to human form and shouted. "Lily! Get back inside!"

My shout, while warning Lily, also attracted Moony. The werewolf stopped his run towards Lily and turned around. I knew I had no chance of moving or changing back to Prongs before he reached me; he was only too leaps away.

Briefly, I saw Lily hurry back inside; something in my voice must have made her realize I wasn't joking for once. I thanked Merlin she'd listened to me. And then Moony was on top of me, his teeth clamped around my shoulder.

Pain flared around my neck and I couldn't stop the scream that tore out of my throat, only getting louder when Padfoot knocked Moony off of me, ripping his teeth from my skin. It felt like he'd ripped out my neck bone as well.

I heard sounds of fighting going on around me, some part of me knew the yelps and growls was Padfoot, guarding me from Moony, but most of me was focused on the pain in my shoulder and neck. Not even recognizing Wormtail sat by my head and was making distressed squeaking noises.

Soon all the noises began to fade out, everything went slowly dark and I couldn't resist the temptation to close my eyes. The image of Lily in Defence class flashed behind my closed eye lids as they closed.

Surrounded by the silver fog and the sun shining on her hair, setting it alight, she looked even more like a fairy than I remembered. The picture was different though; her eyes were open, showing her beautiful emerald eyes, glittering with joy and kindness, but the biggest change was her smile: she was smiling at me.

My thoughts began to dim and the image faded away with the rest of reality. I gave in to the waves of pain swamping me, sinking into the bliss of darkness.


	7. Guilty Realisations

Sounds of banging and arguing slowly brought me back from unconsciousness. I couldn't remember what had happened, all I knew was that my shoulder hurt a lot and I was getting a head ache from all the banging.

Slowly, I opened my eyes, squinting at the light. By the looks of things, I wasn't in the Hospital Wing, in fact, I thought it looked like I was in the Shrieking Shack.

As soon as the thought entered my mind I sat upright, hissing as it moved my shoulder, memories from earlier that night rushed through my mind. The full moon, Lily, Moony pouncing.

Bitten.

I'd been bitten.

I'd been bitten while in human form by Moony. By a werewolf.

I was a werewolf.

"James!" Someone shouted, making me wince again. "Thank Merlin you're awake!"

I blinked a few times and looked to the right of me where Sirius and Peter were stood, watching me nervously.

"Lily?" I asked, my throat hurt too much to get out a full question.

"She's fine," Peter said while Sirius handed me a glass of water he'd conjured up. "Padfoot managed to get Moony back into the shack before he could b-bite anyone e-else."

There was silence for awhile as the facts actually began to sink in. Bangs continued from the room next to us, the moon must still have been up. I winced as I thought of how much pain Remus would be in when he woke up; being this close to us would be making him insane.

"What are we going to do?" Sirius whispered, voicing the question on everyone's mind.

"Should we tell Dumbledore?" Peter asked nervously.

"No," I decided. "They'd be no way of explaining how Moony got out without telling him about becoming Animagi."

"You need to go to the Hospital Wing," Sirius protested, shooting a glance at my shoulder.

"Madam Pomfrey would recognize a werewolf bite straight away," I argued. "She'd tell Dumbledore."

"So, we keep it secret? What are you going to do on the next full moon?" Peter asked, he sounded scared.

"We'll do lots of study about w-werewolves," I said, trying not to stutter over the word. "We'll find out what happens if two transform together."

"And what about your shoulder?" Sirius pointed out.

Once he mentioned it pain began to throb through my neck and shoulder, making me flinch. I refused to go to Madam Pomfrey, she'd tell Dumbledore, who would have no choice but to tell the Ministry. I knew what would happen to Remus if the Ministry found out he'd bitten someone; it would be certain death.

"I have an idea," Peter spoke up.

We turned to look at him. Peter opened his mouth, flinching as Moony threw himself against a wall, making the house shake.

"Moony will probably have bitten himself by now," Peter said, looking upset by the thought. "If we watch how Madam Pomfrey treats it, we can do the same to your shoulder."

"Brilliant," I breathed.

We went through every aspect of the plan, not stopping to sleep. I was dreading the moment Remus found out, but I knew there would be no way of keeping it from him. He was already scared of biting someone, I knew he'd break down when he found out what happened.

Finally, much to our relief, the sun slowly began to rise and the howls from the room became human screams, until, eventually, everything was quiet. Peter and Sirius helped me to my feet; we had to leave the shack before Madam Pomfrey came for Remus.

Sirius put the cloak on; he was staying behind to watch everything Madam Pomfrey did. It was Peter's job to get me back to the dorm, preferably without anyone realizing I was hurt.

Peter got the map out and we made our way into school. We had to stop a few times to avoid Filch or other teachers, by the time we entered the Common Room people were beginning to come out of their dorms.

Somehow, we managed to sneak into our dorm without anyone noticing I was hurt. Peter helped me into bed and then sat down at the bottom by my feet.

My body and brain were begging for sleep, but the pain in my shoulder kept me awake, the stress and nerves about what we were going to do helped too. I had to hope Sirius would be able to copy everything Madam Pomfrey did.

It felt like years before Sirius came back to the dorm, I heard the bell go and realized we'd missed the first two classes of the day and would probably miss the third. That just left Transfiguration, McGonagall would be furious if we missed that as well.

"Did you find out?" Peter demanded as soon as Sirius entered the room.

"Of course I did," Sirius assured. "Drink this while I perform the spell."

"Tergeo," I heard Sirius mutter, cleaning the wound before healing it, while I choked down the potion. It tasted foul and didn't seem to have any effect on the bite, nor did it take away the pain.

"It didn't do anything," I muttered, eyeing the bite that looked even worse now it was clean.

"Give me chance," Sirius snapped, pointing his wand at the bite. "Vulnera Sanentur!"

The bite slowly began heal itself, flesh melding back together until all that was left was a bite that would probably be fully healed by the time I went to bed. I recognized the spell as one Madam Pomfrey used on deep cuts.

"I thought normal spells didn't work on werewolf wounds," Peter commented, remembering all the times we'd had to heal scratches with muggle medcine after getting hurt controlling Moony on a full moon.

"They don't," Sirius admitted. "But the potion made it so the spell would work."

"Thanks," I said, wrapping a quick bandage around my shoulder until it healed. "How's Remus?"

"Not good," Sirius frowned. "But Madam Pomfrey said he should be okay to leave tomorrow night."

"How are we going to tell him?" I moaned.

"It will be difficult," Peter nodded. "Let's wait until he's out of hospital."

"Deal," I agreed immediately, willing to do anything to put it off.

"Do we bother going to Charms?" I asked. "Or should we go to the kitchens and then to Transfiguration?"

Unsurprisingly, the second option won, we ended up eating in the kitchen. We'd missed breakfast and lunch, so we were starving by the time we got there. Luckily, the House Elves were more than happy to make us anything we wanted.

When the bell rang, we hurried into Transfiguration. I ignored the pain in my shoulder I got every time someone bumped into me and took my normal seat. By the look on McGonagall's face, I guessed she knew we'd skipped most of our classes.

For once I was thankful to be doing writing instead of a practical class, and was relieved to find Moony had bitten me on my left shoulder, meaning I could still write.

I wasn't able to concentrate on my work though, due to the fact Lily kept turning around to look at me, each time making my stomach flip and my heart squeeze. Our roles seemed oddly reversed; she was trying to catch my eye and I wanted to avoid her.

I knew she wanted an explanation for the night before, but I didn't know how to explain anything to her without telling her everything, something I definatly couldn't do, even if she did already know about Remus.

At the end of class my guess was proved right when Lily cornered me outside. Not wanting anyone to overhear us, I pulled her into one of the secret passageways we'd found. Sirius and Peter gave me a quick look and then continued walking, going to see Remus.

"Where are we?" Was the first question she asked.

"Secret passageway," I explained. "It leads to Hogsmeade."

Lily glanced down the passageway interestedly, but quickly pulled her attention back at me.

"What happened last night?" She demanded. "First you ditched rounds, and then when I found you, you shouted at me to get inside?"

"Nothing," I muttered, unable to make an excuse. "How did you find me?"

"You dropped your Potions essay," Lily said, holding up a folded bit of parchment that must have fallen out of my pocket when I'd tripped over Peter and Sirius. "You sounded scared last night."

"It was nothing," I snapped, turning away to walk out of the passageway.

Lily reached out when I turned and grabbed my left shoulder where the bite was, pulling me to face her again. I was unable to stop the yelp of pain that escaped my mouth.

"You're bleeding," Lily said, her eyes wide as she looked at the blood on her hand that had leaked through my robes.

"Barely," I mumbled, trying not to move my still healing shoulder.

"Let me see," she commanded, pulling out her wand.

"Not a chance!" I exclaimed, startled.

Lily narrowed her eyes and pointed her wand at me, threatening without words what she'd do if I didn't do as she asked. Muttering curses under my breath, I pulled my robes off so that she could see the bandage wrapped around my shoulder; it was soaked with blood.

"Why haven't you gone to Madam Pomfrey?" Lily asked, reaching up to touch the bandage.

"Don't feel like it," I growled, relieved she hadn't asked me to show her the actual wound.

My relief turned to horror when I realized she'd unwrapped the bandages without me realizing. I felt the cold air on my shoulder and jerked away from her.

Stood with one hand holding the ruined bandages and the other covering her mouth in horror, she stared at my shoulder. The skin around the wound was healing, making it get smaller every minuet, but there was still no denying it was a bite.

"L-last n-night," she stammered. "I-it was a f-full m-moon."

"Please," I croaked. "Please don't tell."

"When you shouted at me," she realized. "You distracted him."

"Please Lily," I begged. "I'll never bother you again. Please don't tell."

"I won't," she promised.

"Thank you," I said, pulling my robes back on.

"What happened?" She whispered.

She caught my eye and before I knew what I was doing, I'd told her everything. All about becoming Animagi in Fifth Year for Remus, our adventures out of the shack, and then about the night before, how I'd transformed to warn her and then been unable to protect myself.

"I won't tell," she swore again.

I nodded, unsure how I felt about telling her all my secrets. I turned away and began to walk out of the passageway.

"James," Lily called.

I looked back at her, startled she'd actually used my first name. She had tears glittering in her eyes, her hands were twisting the bandages nervously, and she looked close to collapsing with shock.

"I'm sorry; it was all my fault," she said, looking down at her hands.

"No it wasn't," I denied, walking over to her and lifting her head up so that I could look into her eyes. "I'd do anything for you."

Not giving her chance to reply, I left the passageway, waiting until I made it back to my empty dorm room before falling to my knees and letting everything that had happened overwhelm me. Not stopping the tears that fell from my eyes.


	8. Denial And Hope

I heard Peter and Sirius coming up the steps towards the dorm, but I couldn't manage to stop crying, or even pull myself off the floor and onto a bed.

"James!" Sirius shouted when he saw me.

Reaching up, I tried to wipe away some of the tears that were still falling down my cheeks. Realizing it was hopeless; I gave in and just settled for wishing they'd leave me alone. I didn't want to be seen like that in my weakest moment.

Either because they didn't know what to say, or because they knew better than to talk, they sat down on the floor at either side of me and just waited for me to stop breaking down. Waiting for me to speak to them.

"I told Lily," I finally said, wiping the back of my hand against my cheeks. My eyes hurt and I knew without looking that they'd be red and puffy from all my crying. "It made it more real."

"You told her everything?" Peter asked, sounding shocked.

"I didn't mean to," I explained. "But she saw the bite and then before I knew it I was telling her everything."

"That's ok," Sirius said quickly, putting a halt to whatever Peter was going to say.

"She promised not to tell," I assured them.

We sat in silence for awhile, only moving when my legs began to cramp from sitting in the same position for so long. Sirius helped me to my feet and then stood to one side, looking unsure of himself.

"Look at me," I chuckled weakly. "I'm turning into such a girl."

"It's understandable," Peter smiled; happy to see me in control once again.

"I have an idea," Sirius announced.

"That's a first," I joked, putting everything behind me, determined to act as normal as possible.

Sirius sent me a scowl, but I could see the joy in his eyes. "Let's go get you something to eat in the kitchens since you missed dinner, and then we'll go see Remus again, he was wondering where you were."

I nodded my agreement, so we walked into the Common Room. Even though I could feel Lily's eyes staring at me as we left Gryffindor Tower, I refused to look at her, not wanting to see the pity I knew would be in her gaze.

After a quick stop at the kitchens for sandwiches to eat on the trip to the Hospital Wing and some chocolate for Remus; it always cheered him up after a rough moon.

Remus was sleeping when we arrived, but Madam Pomfrey let us see him, giving us orders not to wake him. We walked over to the bed that had the curtains drawn; it was Remus's normal bed.

Seeing Remus wrapped up in bandages and pale looking was like a punch to the stomach. Before, whenever I'd seen him after a rough moon, I'd feel guilty for not being able to help more, or upset that he had to go through that.

Now, I still felt guilty, but I also felt fear. Not of Remus, I didn't blame him for biting me and I certainly wasn't scared of him. I was scared because I knew, watching the rise and fall of Remus's chest, next month it would be me in that state.

Unlike Remus though, when I was hurt I wouldn't be able to be healed by Madam Pomfrey if I wanted to keep everything a secret. Slowly, so I didn't injure my shoulder any more, I sat down on the seat next his bed.

"You look like hell," Remus murmured, waking up and looking over at me, still blinking sleepily.

"Look who's talking," I shot back, smiling weakly and placing the chocolate onto the table next to the bed.

"I have an excuse," Remus grinned, waving a bandage covered hand to prove it. "When was the last time you slept?"

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Sirius and Peter leave us alone, but it didn't look like Remus noticed, I wouldn't have been surprised if he hadn't even realized they were there to start with.

"Erm…" I thought back, trying to remember. When was the last time I'd slept? "The night before the full moon," I finally said, figuring the time I was unconscious from the bite wouldn't count.

"You haven't slept in 36 hours?" Remus asked incredulously. "How are you still awake?"

"My utter awesomeness," I grinned cockily. "Plus Sirius and Peter haven't slept either."

"This is just proof I'm the only sane one in the Marauders," Remus chuckled.

We sat in silence for a little while, Remus struggled into sitting position with some help and then he glanced around the room, I didn't know if he was looking for Sirius, Peter, or Madam Pomfrey, but I didn't ask.

"What do you remember from last night?" I blurted out.

I hadn't meant to ask, knowing once I'd asked I would have to continue the conversation and tell him everything. I wished Sirius and Peter were still there so they could help me break the news gently.

Yet again, they had the cloak, so it was possible they were still in the room, pulling the map out of my pocket I quickly searched for them, but they were, unfortunately, in the dorm room.

"Well," Remus looked thoughtful. "I have vague memories of the forest, and then it goes blurry."

I closed my eyes, hoping he wouldn't remember anymore. Normally, Remus would remember vague memories of his time as Moony, but the times when he lost control would be blurry. The memories he didn't seem to forget were the ones of him scratching us or coming close to biting a human.

"So you only remember the forest?" I asked hopefully.

"Um," Remus closed his eyes, thinking back. "We were in the forest, and then there was a shout," his eyes opened to stare at me in shock. "I remember tasting blood."

I looked away, confirming his worst fear of biting someone. Remus let out a distressed sound, reaching out and grabbing my arm, forcing me to look at him.

"Who did I bite?" He demanded.

For the second time that day I found myself describing what had happened. When I got to the point about hearing Lily shouting, Remus jumped as if electrocuted, looking around the Hospital Wing wildly.

"Lily? I bit Lily?" He cried. "How badly is she hurt? Does she hate me?"

"No, don't worry," I tried to get him to calm down. "You didn't bite Lily."

Once Remus had settled down a bit, I continued on. As I spoke, I noticed Remus getting paler, I told him about changing back to human form and Remus chocked, his eyes tearing up. I stopped talking after admitting he'd bitten me.

"I'm sorry," he chocked, tears pouring down his face. "I'm so so sorry!"

I got up and sat down on the bed next to him, talking to him until he calmed down, muttering nonsense, I didn't even know what I was saying, just reassuring him as he muttered 'sorry' repeatedly under his breath, but eventually he stopped crying.

Summoning some tissues, I handed them to Remus and then took a few for myself; I hadn't even realized I was crying until then.

"What are you going to do now?" Remus asked, he sounded scared. "Are you going to tell Dumbledore?"

"NO!" I exclaimed. "No, we're going to keep it secret. Well, Lily knows now, she knows about everything, but she promised not to tell too."

For the first time since remembering the full moon Remus smiled, it was a weak smile, but it was still a smile.

"How is this going to work?" He asked.

"We're going to do a lot of research and see what happens when two werewolves are put together," my voice was matter of fact, refusing to let Remus see how much being a werewolf scared me. "But we'll keep it secret, no one needs to know."

"Thanks," Remus finally said, interrupting the silence that had been settling over us.

I knew he meant he was thankful I wasn't going to tell Dumbledore, thankful that I was saving his life, even after he'd ruined mine.

"We're still brothers," I assured him. "We always will be, this changes nothing."

Sniffing slightly, Remus nodded, smiling at me. I climbed back into the chair and watched over him as he lay back down and went to sleep; I knew he needed all the sleep he could get so he could be discharged the next day.

Even though I knew I should be moving; Madam Pomfrey could have come out of her office at anytime and caught me; it was past curfew by then, I couldn't have moved if my life depended on it. My lack of sleep finally caught up with me and I rested my head on my arms, leaning on Remus's bed with my body still on the chair.

Hoping Madam Pomfrey wouldn't find me, and hoping Sirius and Peter wouldn't worry too much when they realized I didn't go back to the dorm, I fell asleep for the first time since the full moon.


	9. The Marauderette

Unexpectedly, I managed to sleep without being woken up by nightmares like I'd expected. Instead, Remus woke me up by accident when he got out of his bed and knocked me with his foot.

"Look who's finally awake," someone chuckled as I blinked sleepily, wincing slightly at the harsh glare of white light from the hospital walls.

Looking towards the sound, I saw Sirius and Peter standing at the bottom of Remus's bed. Remus himself was pulling on his robes.

"Has Madam Pomfrey let you go?" I asked, standing up with a yawn.

"Yeah, she came in while you were asleep. Though I'm surprised she didn't wake you up last night," Remus said.

"Anyway," Peter interrupted. "We have class in about five minuets."

"Don't panic though," Sirius grinned. "We have the books you'll need for the day and some breakfast from the kitchens."

He handed Remus and I our school bags and a smaller bag that I guessed contained our breakfast. Knowing we didn't have any time to argue, we followed Peter and Sirius out of the Hospital Wing.

"What lesson do we even have now?" I asked, pulling a piece of cold bacon out of the bag and eating it while walking.

"Transfiguration. Which reminds me," Sirius stopped and dug in his bag, finally pulling out a piece of parchment. "You forgot to do your essay so I did it for you. Don't get too used to it though, and it probably won't get you a good mark."

Taking the parchment, I stuffed it into my Transfiguration book. A sudden thought hit me before we could start walking again, I gasped and unconsciously touched my shoulder where my new scars rested, alerting the others.

"Transfiguration," I breathed.

"What about it?" Peter asked nervously.

"Prongs," I said, not able to stop my brain thinking long enough to explain.

Luckily, Remus and Sirius weren't as oblivious and caught on.

"Will you still be an Animagus?" Remus asked worriedly, looking at me guiltily.

"I'll test it tonight," I said. "Come on, we're going to be late."

"You can't just test it!" Remus argued, hurrying to catch me up.

"Remus is right," Sirius said. "It's too dangerous."

"We need to find out someway," I shot back.

"Why not just get Remus to ask McGonagall what would happen if he became an Animagus?" Peter asked.

We stopped walking in shock, causing Peter to run into Sirius and knock them both over.

"That's a brilliant idea, Pete," I laughed, helping him up while Remus helped Sirius.

"How didn't we think of that?" Sirius grumbled.

We ended up five minuets late for class, but when Sirius subtly gestured towards Remus, McGonagall just let us sit down. She knew we always collected him from the Hospital Wing and had given up trying to convince us otherwise long ago.

For me, class couldn't pass quickly enough; I just wanted it to be over so Remus could ask. I didn't want to lose my Animagus form; it had become part of me and I wasn't ready to lose it; I doubted I ever would be.

Once the bell went and the classroom cleared out, we walked with Remus up to McGonagall's desk. I noticed Lily waiting outside the door, but I didn't know whether to groan or jump for joy at her finally wanting to talk to me.

"What can I do for you, Remus?" McGonagall asked, shooting the rest of us suspicious looks.

"I was just wondering what would happen if I ever became an Animagus," Remus explained. "I know I won't be able to for a few years yet, but I just wanted to know if it will ever be possible."

"I don't see why it wouldn't be," McGonagall said thoughtfully. "There have been recordings of other werewolves becoming Animagi, though in all cases the animal has been a wolf if the subject was a werewolf for more than five years."

"What about if an Animagus was bitten?" Remus asked, sounding like he was just curious. "Would they keep their Animagus form? Or would it change into a wolf after five years?"

"It's incredibly rare for an Animagus to be bitten, since they could transform and protect themselves," McGonagall stated. "But, the person bitten would keep their Animagus form. Once an Animagus transformation is complete, it can't change; if a werewolf became an Animagus before the five years were up he would become the same animal as his Patronus, and after the five years the form wouldn't change."

A great sense of relief filled me, wiping away the doubt and fear I'd been feeling without realizing it. I was suddenly eager to get out of the classroom and transform, to test McGonagall's words and see for myself that Prongs was still part of me.

"Thanks," Remus said, taking the late pass McGonagall handed him and then following us out of the room.

Lily was still waiting for us when we left the room, but I ignored her, finding the nearest secret passage and ducking into it, barely even noticing everyone follow me in.

Closing my eyes, I drew from the part of my magic that connected me to Prongs, feeling it sweep through my body, effortlessly changing me. A gasp made me open my eyes; Lily was staring at me with awe filled eyes, but the other Marauders were just grinning at me.

I changed back to human form after a few seconds. Remus sighed, a look of relief on his face that rivalled my own. I knew he'd been panicking and would have blamed himself if I lost Prongs.

"What lesson are we late for now?" I asked, allowing myself to smile at Lily's still stunned face.

"None," Peter looked at his schedule. "We have a free."

"Should we go to the Common Room then?" Sirius asked, leading the way out of the passage way.

Lily followed us as we walked up a flight of stairs. She still hadn't spoken, but I wasn't too worried about her. Remus stopped us before we got to the Gryffindor Tower.

"Wait," He called. "Can we go to the Room of Requirement?"

Shooting him confused looks; we nodded and changed direction, going towards the seventh floor instead.

"What's the Room of Requirement?" Lily asked, finally speaking and walking so she was next to me.

"It's a special room that can transform itself into any room you need," I explained. "It can make any object, except for food, appear."

"I've never heard of this room," Lily said, watching in confusion as Remus paced opposite the portrait of Barnabas the Barmy.

"That's because it's secret," Sirius grinned, chuckling at the look on Lily's face as the door appeared.

I led her into the room, looking around in surprise as I recognized the room; it was the same room we'd used for three years while we became Animagi. The only difference was the fact there was an extra chair for Lily.

"Why are we in our Animagi office?" Peter asked, automatically sitting down in the same chair he used for years.

"Because McGonagall said it's possible for me to be an Animagus," Remus blushed, picking up one of the notebooks we'd written ourselves with a simplified version of the Animagus progress in it.

"We could go out when it's not a full moon," Sirius grinned, catching on.

"Can you remember which book has the instructions in it?" I asked, walking over to the bookshelf that was against one of the walls.

There were two bookshelves in the room; one full of the books we'd used to find information and piece together the things we needed. The other held the books we'd written and filled with important information. One of the books held the instructions needed to become an Animagus.

"Instructions for what?" Lily asked, picking out one of the notebooks and flipping through it.

"To become an Animagus," Peter muttered absently, looking through the books.

"Did you guys write these yourselves?" She asked.

"Yeah," I nodded. "Just in case we ever needed the information again."

"If I help you find the book," Lily said nervously, playing with her wand. "Will you teach me to become an Animagus too?"

We all turned around to look at her in shock; it was the last thing any of us had expected her to say.

"Sure," Sirius agreed. I knew he was thinking that if she was an Animagus too then she wouldn't be able to blackmail us with the knowledge that we were, like he'd feared since I told her.

"You'd be breaking the law," I warned her, wanting her to know what she'd be getting into.

"I don't care," Lily lifted her head stubbornly. "I may not like any of you, but this shows you're smarter than I'd first thought and if you can successfully become Animagi at fifteen to help a friend, you can't be as bad as I thought either."

I'd winced when she said she didn't like us, but smiled when she admitted we weren't as bad as she'd thought. It wasn't much, but it was an improvement.

"Why do you want to become an Animagus?" Peter asked.

"Well," Lily smiled. "You're now down one Animagus and gained another werewolf, you need all the help you can get."

"Y-you're going to help us on full moons?" Remus dropped his book in shock.

"Yes," Lily stated clearly.

"Find us that book then," Sirius challenged.

Lily smiled mischievously at him and pointed her wand at the bookshelf. "Accio Animagi instruction book."

Sirius looked gob smacked when the book flew off the shelf and landed neatly in Lily's hand. She winked at him and handed it to me.

"Today's just not our day," Peter groaned.

"Guys," I put an arm around Lily and Sirius's shoulders. "I do believe we've found our first Marauderette."


	10. Trust And Trouble

The full moon was approaching far too quickly for my tastes and neither Remus nor Lily had managed their Animagi forms. Remus had told us repeatedly that if Lily didn't complete her Animagus form then Sirius and Peter were to stay with me when I transformed and just let him transform alone.

While Sirius and Peter coached Lily and Remus, teaching them everything from meditation to jogging around the room, I searched through all the books we owned on werewolves; searching for any information about what happens when two werewolves are together during a full moon.

"That's it!" Peter cried, sounding excited.

I looked over at where Remus and Lily were meditating and saw a pale green glow surrounding Lily. Her eyes were screwed shut in concentration, but we'd seen the glow before; it meant the first transformation was happening.

"Keep at it Lily!" Sirius urged. "You're almost there!"

Placing my book on the table in front of me, I walked over to them and sat across from Lily with my legs crossed, wanting to be there for her first transformation. Remus stood next to Sirius and Peter, not even trying to meditate while everything was happening.

Finally, the green glow got brighter until it was white and the change swept through Lily's body, transforming her into a beautiful brown doe. I stood up and took a step back, not wanting to overwhelm Lily when she opened her eyes.

"You did it," I grinned. "Open your eyes."

Slowly, the doe's eyes opened. Immediately, she looked down at herself and her eyes widened in shock, like she couldn't believe she'd finally done it.

I knew the exact moment she began to panic, the doe becoming skittish and backing away. Luckily, it wasn't hard to guess what the problem was; she didn't know how to change back.

"Don't worry," I soothed. "Just think of your human body. Close your eyes if it helps."

With her eyes closed it only took a couple of minuets for her to change back. Without wasting anytime, Lily inspected her arms and hands, as if making sure she really had changed back.

"You need a Marauder name," I grinned.

"That will be fun to think of!" Sirius laughed, ignoring Lily's scowl.

"Do I have any choice in the matter?" She demanded.

"Nope," Remus smiled. "It's best to just go with it."

"Just you left now," Peter said, slapping Remus on the back.

"I know," Remus sighed. "Every time I come close to transforming I panic; expecting pain."

"You'll get it eventually," Sirius said soothingly. "You were the first person to cast a corporeal Patronus."

Remus nodded, sitting back on the floor to continue meditating with Peter. Sirius took Lily to the other side of the room, making her transform from doe to human every five minuets, making sure she would be able to do it without thinking.

Sighing, I went back to the books, searching endlessly for any information that would help with the coming full moon.

We were spending every free minuet in the Room of Requirement; any free lessons when we were meant to be doing our homework, and every weekend was spent there. Lily began to help me look through books once she'd gotten the hang of her Animagus form.

As a result, our work level began to decrease. The rest of the Marauders and I didn't mind since the same thing had happened when we first became Animagi. Lily panicked, but knew realistically, there was no way of doing her homework and helping us.

Sirius took it on himself to help as much as possible, doing all the homework we got. Remus protested, saying it didn't matter if he became an Animagus and he'd be more useful helping with the homework, but in the end continued training with Peter.

The full moon was going to be on Halloween night, which meant we only had a week to find information about werewolves. Remus had temporarily put his Animagi training on hold to help us search through the books.

Other students were beginning to get suspicious, not only hadn't we pulled a prank in weeks, not even to hex Snape, but Lily was now talking to us and eating with us.

Being friends with Lily was a strange experience; it meant we became closer to Alice Prewett, Lily's best friend, and Alice's boyfriend; Frank Longbottom. They both seemed like nice people and soon enough we'd become friends with them as well, though we didn't tell either of them anything about the Room of Requirements, or even how Lily had ended up our friend after years of hatred on her side.

In Defence Against the Dark Arts, we were having our last Patronus lesson. Apparently, Professor Redburn had only meant to do a week or two of lessons on the Patronus Charm, but since Remus had managed a corporeal Patronus, he was hoping someone else would too.

A silver animal appeared in the corner of my eye, making me spin around to see who had finally managed a corporeal Patronus. I saw Snape holding his wand out, blushing bright red, his hands shaking slightly. Alice was staring at him with a look of shock.

His Patronus wasn't in sight, but when Professor Redburn rewarded him fifty points everyone knew he'd cast it, even if he refused to do it again.

I saw Alice talking to Snape after the lesson had finished, but was too far away to hear what was being said. Snape looked angry and was blushing, but Alice just looked determined and a little sad.

Before I got the chance to eavesdrop though, Alice said something and walked away, linking arms with Frank who looked just as confused as I did. The Marauders, Lily, and I, all walked with them until we had to separate. Alice, Remus, and Peter had Herbology, a lesson the rest of us had dropped. The rest of us went to Potions.

Whatever Alice had said to Snape, it had clearly affected him; through the entire lesson he kept glancing over at where Lily was sat with Frank. I was partnered with Sirius as usual, but I noticed Snape looked over at us as well, but instead of his usual glares, it was with a thoughtful look.

At the end of Potions, we had another free lesson, so we went to the Room of Requirements like normal. For once though, Lily didn't turn up. I'd seen her talking with Snape, but I'd thought it would only be for a few minuets since she'd looked furious with him.

Finally, when we only had half an hour of spare time left, Lily walked into the room. I was relieved to see her, I'd been thinking Snape had hurt her, but then Snape walked in behind her.

Everybody drew their wands except Lily, who calmly stood in front of Snape and crossed her arms, glaring at us all.

"What's he doing here?" Sirius hissed, gripping his wand.

"He's one of my friends," Lily said stubbornly.

"That doesn't mean you tell him our secrets!" Peter protested. "You never brought Alice or Frank here!"

"Severus already knows Remus is a werewolf," Lily pointed out.

I sighed, knowing we were getting no where. I put my wand back into my pocket and collapsed into one of the arm chairs. With the full moon so close I was exhausted and just didn't have the energy to hold onto my anger, Remus followed my example.

Remus looked pale and tired, and I knew without looking in a mirror that I looked even worse because I wasn't used to the stress the coming moon was putting on my body, and the first transformation is always the worst. Sirius and Peter looked alarmed that we'd sat down without our wands.

"Sit down," I muttered, rubbing my eyes. "Everyone."

Sirius and Peter sat down reluctantly, not putting their wands away. Lily took her normal seat as well and Snape sat down in the chair that had appeared next to her. He looked nervous, but determined.

"Explain," I nodded at Lily.

"Severus has plenty of books that will help our research, and he's agreed to keep everything we tell him secret," Lily began.

"Would he take an Unbreakable Vow?" Sirius asked, interrupting her.

Snape looked at Lily; he was just as pale as Remus. "I would."

Sirius looked surprised, but nodded slowly and gestured for Lily to continue her explanation.

"I just think he can help, and if you'd at least put up with him, there would be a lot less trouble in school," Lily finished weakly. "I trust him."

"What do you know about werewolves?" Remus asked.

"Probably nothing you don't already know," Snape said, looking surprised, but not disgusted for once, which made me think.

"What's your real opinion on werewolves?" I asked.

Snape looked startled. "I don't mind them," he admitted. "It's not their fault."

"Then why did you always treat Remus horribly?" Peter demanded.

"Because he's a Marauder," I sighed, answering before Snape could.

"Would you be willing to at least be civilised to all of us?" Remus asked, waving a hand at the rest of us.

Snape nodded, he looked a little calmer now he was sure we weren't going to attack him. Realizing what was happening; Peter and Sirius put their wands away reluctantly. Lily looked proud, smiling at me. Unable to resist, I smiled back at her, even though it was the last thing I felt like doing.

"We need all the help we can get," I admitted, watching Snape's reaction. "We need to know what happens when two werewolves meet on a full moon."

"Two werewolves?" Snape paled, and then seemed to realize how tired I was looking. "You got bitten?"

"It was my fault," Lily said sadly, looking down at her hands guiltily.

"How many times," I sighed. "It's not your fault!"

Noticing Snape's confused look, Remus took a deep breath and began to explain everything to him, including becoming Animagi and training Lily to do the same. He told him what had happened on the last full moon too.

In the end, we didn't make him take an Unbreakable Vow, but it was close. Sirius finally made a deal with him; if he became an Animagus too then he'd have less to blackmail us with.

Snape said he didn't want to be an Animagus, and told us flat out that if he had no choice about it then he would do it, but wasn't going to help us out on full moons.

"The school's going to throw a fit when they realize the Marauders and Snape are civil with each other," I said.

Everyone laughed at that, including Snape, relieving the tension.

We went to our next lesson, and strangely I think we all felt differently. I expected to feel nervous now that Snape knew the truth, but I felt lighter, the others admitted they felt the same, even Snape also said he felt the same.

We all felt like we'd just changed something important…all we could do was hope it was for the best.


	11. Adrenalin Nerves

On Friday morning, I reluctantly dragged myself out of bed. Luckily for Remus, he was allowed to stay in bed since the teachers knew it was a full moon, but if I was ill the same day as Remus they might become suspicious.

Sirius had managed to brew a Pepper-Up Potion ready for me, he'd been brewing them all week, making sure I had one every morning. He had spares in his bag just in case I began to look really sick.

Fortunately, even though it was a Friday and I had to get through classes, it also meant I'd have the weekend to try and recover. According to Remus it had taken him a full week to recover after his first full moon, but he didn't have Animagi friends to help him back then.

Our first lesson was Defence Against the Dark Arts with the Slytherins. Just like we'd predicted, the entire school was in shock over the Marauders truce with Snape and Lily. Surprisingly, we'd found he wasn't that bad to be around; he had a dry sense of humour that was quite amusing, if you weren't on the receiving end.

The other Marauders had confessed that they agreed; Snape wasn't so bad, and, like Lily had said, he was really helpful when it came to research. We were far from being friends; there was too much history of being enemies for that to happen in just a week, but I could easily call him an acquaintance.

It also seemed, much to my delight, that I was becoming closer than ever to Lily. She'd begun to call me by my Marauder nickname, though she called the other Marauders that too. We still hadn't managed to come up with a decent nickname for her.

Peter mentioned that since Snape was becoming an Animagus, then he should have a Marauder name too. This was met with objections from both Sirius and Snape himself. Lily seemed to like the idea though, so I reluctantly agreed with Peter, unable to deny Lily anything, but said until he completed his Animagus training he wouldn't get a nickname, even if we knew he would become a black panther.

Thankfully, we were revising our knowledge of duelling in DADA, which meant all we had to do was read out of out text books and write an essay each on different tactics. By the time class had ended, I knew my essay was the worst in class, it was barely a page long, and most words were crossed out.

"Are you okay?" Lily asked after class, walking up to me with Snape.

"Honestly?" I muttered. "I feel awful."

"Maybe you should skip your other classes," Snape suggested.

"I can't," I moaned. "We can't let anyone become suspicious."

"Look on the bright side," Sirius said bracingly. "We have a free now."

"Great," Peter groaned. "To the Room of Requirements."

Lily, Snape, and Peter walked with me to the Room while Sirius went back to the dorm to fetch Remus. The full moon was only hours away and we still hadn't found any helpful information about two werewolves on a full moon.

I collapsed onto a couch that had appeared in the room. Back into habit, everyone settled into their chosen seats and began reading through every werewolf book they could find. When Remus came in, he sat in an armchair next to Sirius and helped look through the books.

I was going to help, but found I couldn't force myself to get up, and instead found myself falling into a light sleep. I hadn't realized just how exhausting and painful being a werewolf was.

Every part of my body hurt; my muscles were twitching in preparation for the transformation, my bones grinding against each other. My senses were heightened, which meant I had a killer headache from the noise and brightness of everything around me.

"Found it!" Someone exclaimed, waking me up.

I jerked at the sound, falling off the couch with a gasp of pain. I suppose I could add bruises to the list of problems.

"Sorry," Snape murmured sheepishly, helping me sit back on the couch.

"Did you at least find anything helpful?" I asked, rubbing my head.

Snape gave a rare grin, flipping his book open at a page. "Listen to this: When two werewolves meet on a full moon, blood is normally shed, unless the two are of the same pack."

"How do we know if we're the same back?" Remus interrupted.

"When a werewolf bites you, you become part of that werewolf's pack. In a rare occurrence, an Animagus can become part of a werewolf pack by being with a werewolf on a full moon," Snape continued. "To add a new member of the pack, every original member must accept them in animal form before the werewolf can."

By the time Snape had finished reading we were all grinning, even I'd managed to force my poor face muscles into a beaming smile.

"Yes!" Sirius exclaimed. "We're more than just friends! We're family; pack!"

"You always said we were brothers," Peter chuckled.

"And it's true!" I laughed. "That means all you have to do is accept me and neither of us has to be hurt."

"Don't forget you have to accept me too," Lily piped up, throwing a dazzling smile at me that left me more than a little breathless.

"This means we can continue Animagus training now," Sirius said.

"Great," Remus and Snape said in completely different tones, making the rest of us laugh.

"Lighten up Snape," Sirius smiled. "Being an Animagus is brilliant!"

"Not if we're caught," Snape shot back.

"That just adds to the thrill," Peter pointed out.

"Remind me why we hang out with these adrenalin junkies?" Snape asked, looking at Lily.

"Because I'm just as bad as they are," Lily laughed, transforming into her doe and back again.

"Marauderette," Sirius reminded her.

"You lot are going to kill me," Snape groaned good naturedly.

I smiled, taking another dose of Pepper-Up potion and leaning back against my seat. Lily noticed the smoke coming out of my ears and gave a small giggle, coming to sit next to me. We watched as Peter and Sirius tried their hardest to make Snape meditate, Remus was sat on another seat, knowing he didn't have a chance of becoming an Animagus on the day of a full moon.

"Are you nervous about tonight?" Lily asked quietly.

For a second I thought of lying to her like I had with everyone else; determined to not make Remus any guiltier than he already was and not wanting to bother Sirius and Peter with my problems.

"Terrified," I whispered truthfully.

Lily took my hand and squeezed it. "Don't worry, we'll all be there for you," she reassured. "I won't let anything go wrong."

I gave her a weak smile, trying not to let her see how much her words affected me. Instead, I squeezed her hand back, looking indifferent when she gave me a final smile and stood up to help convince Snape to listen to Sirius and Peter.

"You should ask her to go to Hogsmeade with you," Remus advised, taking the seat Lily had just left.

"I promised myself I'd give her up," I sighed.

"How's that going?" Remus asked.

Glaring at him, I painfully stood up, looking over to where Lily was laughing with Peter, watching Sirius argue with Snape, his arms flying around wildly as he tried to prove his point.

"It's painful," I admitted. "But now we're finally friends, I don't think I could survive another rejection."

Not waiting for a reply, I walked over to Sirius and Snape. Sirius was getting redder in the face, while Snape just looked bored; one eyebrow raised and his arms crossed. I knew it was probably his lack of reaction that was annoying Sirius; Remus did the same thing when Sirius was arguing with him too.

"I'll take over here," I said, pushing Sirius in the direction of Remus. "Go distract Remus."

"I'm not meditating," Snape said stubbornly once Sirius had gone, Peter and Lily following him.

"I know," I nodded.

"You're not going to argue?" Snape asked, looking surprised.

"I saw how much that worked for Sirius," I said dryly, making Snape chuckle. "At least sit down with me, I can't stay stood much longer."

Snorting, he sat down next to me on the meditation mat. I sat with my legs crossed, as I would if I was about to meditate. Unconsciously, Snape copied my pose.

"You know Occlumency, don't you?" I asked, resting my hands on my knees and hiding a smirk as Snape did the same.

"Yes, I do," Snape sat a little straighter, obviously proud of his ability with the rare and difficult skill.

"Well, instead of meditating, close your eyes and employ your strongest Occlumency shield," I instructed, smiling when he did as I said. "Right, now your mind is blank and empty, find your core of magic, feel it beating in time with your heart."

I watched carefully as Snape's breathing grew slower, a pale blue glow beginning to appear around him. I was surprised to see the glow so quickly, it only tended to appear when the person was close to their Animagus form.

"Can you feel it? The pulsing energy flowing around your body, through your heart. Touch it," I continued softly; I didn't want to break his concentration. "Let it into your mind."

Just like I'd expected, the blue glow around him dimmed a little, I knew after telling him to use his Occlumency that letting his magic into his mind would be difficult, but it was the only way to access his animal form. Eventually, his glow came back and his body relaxed again.

"Search for the wild side of yourself, somewhere in your magic is a black panther waiting to pounce," I knew that this was the hardest part, trying to explain someone else's animal to them. "The panther stalking in your veins, flowing through your magic, have you found him?"

The blue glow grew brighter slowly. Distantly, I heard the bell go for class and Lily dragging the other Marauders – minus Remus – to class.

"Now, feel him pounce, let him attack you," I ordered. "He flies through the air, but instead of landing on you, he goes into you, joining with your physical body, becoming part of you."

Knowing I'd done everything I could, I stood up, wincing as my muscles protested, and backed away from Snape. The glow around him got brighter until the blue changed into a bright white, transforming his body into a sleek black panther.

Unlike with Lily, Snape opened his eyes straight away, showing only a little surprise when he noticed what body he was in. Slowly, the panther began to walk around, growing used to his new body.

Without needing instructions, Snape closed his eyes again and transformed back into his human form, wearing his smirk, but friendlier than normal, emotion showing in his eyes for the first time I could remember.

"That was amazing," he breathed.

"Bet you don't think we're just adrenalin junkies anymore," Remus chuckled.

"Now you just need to get used to transforming," I said.

With a sigh, Snape began to change from human to panther and back until there was no hesitation. Remus watched with a sad smile, obviously wishing he could do the same.

"Once we're recovered from tonight, we'll begin your training again," I promised.

"Are you nervous?" Remus asked, looking at me. "About tonight?"

"Not at all," I said, remembering Lily's comforting words.


	12. Pack Surprise

Waiting in the Common Room for the moon to go down was awful; I felt like I'd been beaten up by a Troll and then exposed to a thousand Dementors. If the pain wasn't already enough, I flinched and tensed up every time Remus checked his watch, causing my muscles to protest at every movement I made.

Sirius, Peter, and Lily were all waiting with us. Lily looked as nervous as I did; it was going to be her first full moon with a werewolf. Sirius and Peter seemed to be only a little bit nervous, but that was expected since they'd spent nearly two years spending every full moon night with Remus, the only change was going to be there were two werewolves.

"I think it's time to go," Remus said softly, checking his watch. "Have you got the cloak?"

Sirius nodded, taking the cloak out of his pocket. "And the map," he added.

Since there was four of us to fit under the cloak, we'd decided to only use it as a last resort. We were going to use the map to avoid teachers and other students instead.

"I solemnly swear that I am up to no good," Peter tapped the map.

Lily snorted at the password, but watched in interest as lines began to appear until the whole school and every student, teacher, and ghost were mapped down.

"What is this?" She asked, her eyes wide as she watched Dumbledore pace in his office, tracing his path with her finger.

"This," Sirius said proudly. "Is the Marauders Map."

"You made this?" She looked up at us.

"Yeah, in Fifth Year," Remus nodded.

"Amazing," she breathed, leaving a warm feeling in my chest.

Once Lily was done studying the map, we checked for teachers and left the Common Room, beginning our way to the Whomping Willow. Peter had hold of the map, while Sirius had his hand in his pocket, clamped around the cloak just in case we needed it.

"Guys?" Peter spoke up when we finally made it outside. "Did any of you tell Snape to meet us?"

Painfully, I went over to Peter and looked at the map. Sure enough, there was a dot labelled 'Severus Snape' stood near the Whomping Willow, just far enough away so the tree wouldn't hit him.

"Let's go see what he's doing then," I croaked, my vocal cords feeling just as painful as the rest of my body.

Unfortunately, while everyone else, even Remus, could have at least walked quickly over to the Whomping Willow, I could barely walk slowly, and it was taking every bit of stubbornness I possessed to even shuffle in the right direction when all my body wanted to do was curl into a ball.

It took what felt like forever, but eventually, we made it to outside the secret tunnel in the Whomping Willow. I was panting from the effort it had taken to get there. I hadn't known my body could feel that tired, not even after six hours of Quidditch training had I felt that bad before.

"What are you doing here Snape?" Sirius asked.

"We don't have time," Remus interrupted before Snape could speak. "The moon will be up soon."

Ignoring the others, Remus hit the knot on the trunk of the Willow, and helped me trough the passage way. We had to bend over to fit without scraping our heads on the ceiling, but finally we were inside the Shrieking Shack.

Lily, Peter, Sirius, and Snape had followed us through. Lily and Snape were looking around the house in interest, but Sirius and Peter were just watching Snape. I knew we didn't have much time left, so I began to walk up to the room Remus normally transformed in.

"What are you doing here, Severus?" Lily repeated Sirius's question.

"I've come to help," Snape said, he sounded slightly nervous, but it was hidden behind his normal emotionless mask.

His words made everyone stop. "What?" I blurted out, wincing at the pain.

"I've come to help," he repeated.

Lily grinned, Sirius and Peter looked too shocked to move, and Remus just shrugged, walking with me to his normal room.

"If you do this," Remus warned. "You'll become part of my pack, there's no going back, once part of a werewolf pack, you always will be."

Snape swallowed. "I still want to help."

"Let's see if you feel the same way later when we're cleaning up our scratches," Sirius muttered, Snape ignored him; either thinking he was joking or too stubborn to back down.

Lily and Snape stopped when we entered the room Remus normally used to transform. I couldn't understand why for a couple of seconds and the realized it was because of the state the room was in.

After so long, I'd learned to block out how bad the room looked, but once I saw why they'd stopped, I had to admit it looked bad. Dried blood covered the floor and walls, bloody handprints mixed with paw prints were painted on the floor, while splashes of the blood hung around the walls. It looked as if more than one person had been brutally murdered.

"From before the Marauders became Animagi," Remus explained when he saw their shocked faces, touching a splash of the dried blood with a sad look on his face.

"Merlin," Lily had tears in her eyes. "I hadn't realized…when you said a werewolf would attack itself…I didn't think you meant like this."

"We only have a few minuets left," Remus said.

Sirius and Peter immediately began to leave the room, leaving Lily and Snape stood there looking confused.

"I thought we stayed with them," Lily said, frowning.

"They need to get unchanged," Sirius muttered, causing Remus to cough embarrassedly.

"Oh," Lily blushed and followed them out of the room, Snape had left with Peter. I knew they would be in the room next door.

We quickly undressed, placing our clothes on top of the wardrobe where we knew they'd be safe. There was no embarrassment about being naked in front of each other. Since we roomed and practically grew up together, we'd seen it all before. Plus, normally we'd wait with Remus as he transformed, it was only because Lily was there that they'd left.

We didn't have anytime to wait, something I couldn't decide if it was good or bad, before the moon rose fully into the sky. I collapsed onto the floor with a gasp of pain and saw Remus do the same next to me, but that was the last I thought of him before the pain swept me away, taking over my thoughts.

It was like nothing I'd ever felt before, and never wanted to feel again.

My blood heated up, boiling in my veins, scorching everywhere it touched, melting every organ it came into contact with. I screamed when the heat touched my heart, causing my whole body to jolt off the floor.

Everything seemed to speed up, my bones began to snap and change, lengthening in some places but shortening in others. No bone stayed the same, those that didn't change exploded into dust. Ribs dug into my burning chest, expanding out of my skin.

Skin seemed to stretch to snapping point, pulling so tight over my changing bones and organs. I'd lost control of my body; screams were ripped out of me, tearing my throat and spilling more blood. I didn't realize I was sobbing while screaming, didn't hear my tortured cries.

All I felt was pain, I cursed the fact I could still feel everything. Remus had once told me the wolf didn't take control of his brain until the last stage of the transformation, something he considered a blessing and a curse.

I could only think of is as a curse; the quicker the wolf would take my brain, the quicker I would stop feeling. I begged for death to take me, my nails scratching at my chest and arms in any attempt to spill my own blood that was still boiling inside of me. Pain began to throb in my nails, eyes, ears, and nose, adding to the torture I was already feeling.

Eventually, I felt my awareness begin to fade with the pain. My screams turned to howls and whimpers, and everything was slowly coloured black. Something inside my mind began to push forwards, taking over my thoughts and actions.

A part of me deep down told me to stay conscious, told me to take back control, but I felt so weak and I knew if I took back control, I'd feel the pain again. Remembering Gryffindors were meant to be brave, I fought back a little.

It felt like I was disconnected, I could still feel my body, but I couldn't move it. My hands – paws? – moved by themselves, scratching over my skin – fur? – and drew blood.

Something moved in the corner of my eye, my body span around to see another wolf standing there. For a second I felt like I knew the other wolf, and I saw a flash of recognition in its eyes too.

Unfortunately, I couldn't cling on any longer, what was left of my thoughts faded, I didn't know why I was still trying to fight the other being in my head, I gave up and everything turned black.


	13. Healing Changes

A jolt of pain through my body pushed me back into awareness. Slowly and painfully, I opened my eyes. Severus, Sirius, Peter, Remus and Lily were surrounding me, they all looked worried, but Lily had tears in her eyes. Willing to do anything to get rid of the devastation written all over her face, I forced my own stiff face into a small smile.

"What happened?" I asked, flinching as the words grated on my ripped raw throat.

"What do you remember?" Remus asked.

He was sat on a chair by my bed, resting his head on his hands. I looked around and realized we were in our dorm. Remus had a few bandages wrapped around the skin I could see peeking out from his robes, but he seemed to be okay.

Everyone else looked to be fine as well; Sirius had a small bruise on his temple and winced slightly when he moved his left arm, Peter was either completely unharmed or healed, Severus had a bandage wrapped around his wrist that I was willing to bet went up to at least his elbow, and thankfully Lily seemed to be whole and fine; I don't know what I'd have done if she'd been injured.

"I remember transforming," I croaked, ignoring the way everyone flinched; I had been right when I'd thought they'd hear me scream. "But after that…nothing."

I don't know why, but it bothered me greatly that I couldn't remember my first night as a werewolf. Lily noticed how my voice was dry and helped me take a drink of water, I wanted to say I could do it myself, but knew I wouldn't be able to hold the cup up for very long with my unstable arms without dropping it.

"Our plan worked," Sirius grinned, coming over to perch on the bottom of my bed as Peter helped me up to lean against my pillows which were propped up. "Moony accepted you, Lily, and Severus into his pack almost immediatly."

Out of the corner of my eye I saw Lily and Severus exchange looks of disbelief, but I couldn't figure out why. Immediately I began to think of all the things that could be the reason for the disbelief. Were they more hurt than I thought? Did I injure them?

"Since when did you call me Severus?" Severus asked.

I relaxed back, realizing there was nothing actually wrong, and then frowning; I'd been calling him Severus since waking up too, but hadn't thought anything about it until he'd pointed it out. Sirius opened his mouth, but then stopped and a look of puzzlement crossed his features. Clearly, like me, he hadn't even noticed himself doing it.

"Well," Peter spoke up. "You don't have a Marauder name yet." He sounded confused as to why we wouldn't be calling him Severus, regardless of the fact we'd been hexing him and calling him names just a few days ago. It sounded stupid, but I was amazed at how much had changed over a few days, most of it good.

A small chuckle came from the left of me and I turned to face Remus. Seeing the fact everyone was staring at him, Remus coughed, his pale skin taking on a pink tinge as he looked at our expressions.

"It's because your part of a pack," he explained. "Members of the same pack can dislike each other to the level of hate, but there will always be a bond between them."

When no one said anything, digesting his words and trying to get used to the fact that we were connected, Remus looked down, nervously twisting his hands. I felt a strange elation at the fact I was bonded to Lily, even if it wasn't in the romantic sense, there was no way of her denying we were at least pack mates if nothing else.

Strangely, I didn't even mind being bonded to Severus. I'd always known Remus, Peter, Sirius and I had shared a friendship closer than even some brothers, but hadn't thought anything of it, even after learning we were pack mates it didn't really stick in my mind until then.

"I did warn you," Remus muttered quietly.

Blinking, I focused on him; he was still watching his hands anxiously. It wasn't the first time I'd seen him in that position and I knew straight away what was wrong: Remus was feeling guilty about the bonding.

"We know you did," Sirius said gently, smiling at him and placing a hand onto his shoulder; trying to reassure him that no one was angry. "I think it's cool that we're now so close."

Raising his eyes towards us as if daring to say otherwise, Sirius forced Remus to look around the rest of us. I gave him a painful grin, letting him know I felt the same as Sirius. No matter what Remus said, I don't think I'd ever be able to hate any of my pack mates, though there had certainly been trying times of extreme dislike.

Peter nodded frantically, nearly falling over in his enthusiasm. Lily bit her lip nervously, and looked at us all before smiling, waking forward to enclose Remus in a hug. A small spark of jealousy lit up in my chest but I refused to acknowledge it; Lily wasn't my girl, no matter how much I wished otherwise.

"I'm very happy to be bonded to you all," she admitted. "Even if Sirius and James have more ego than the school combined."

As hoped, Remus chuckled, his eyes glittering while Sirius took a mock bow and I saluted, proving we did indeed have that much ego. I would have been upset by her words, but I knew that she was just joking for once.

Since I'd stopped asking her out and instead become Lily's friend, we got on much better. My heart hurt a little every time I passed up the opportunity to ask her again, but I pushed the pain away, convincing myself time and time again that it wasn't worth the rejection; I'd just have to settle for friendship.

"If this means they," Severus jerked a thumb at where Peter and Sirius were stood at the bottom of my bed. "Will leave me alone, then I don't mind."

Remus looked ready to cry at his words and I found myself hoping the reason he was so emotional was because he hadn't slept in awhile and not the fact he was a werewolf. Though since being bitten I had felt closer to tears than any other time I remembered. Stupid werewolf emotions.

"We brought some food up for you," Peter remembered, handing me a plate of sandwiches.

"Thanks," I took one off the plate and was about to eat it when I had a sudden thought. "What time is it? Or day? And why don't I hurt as much as I should?"

"It's afternoon, around two. It's Saturday. And we managed to borrow some of Madame Pomfrey's potions, so you're as healed as Remus is now," Lily answered.

"Never thought I'd see the day Lily Evans 'borrowed' things from a teacher," I grinned, making quotation marks in the air over the word 'borrow'.

Satisfied all my questions were answered, I quickly ate my sandwich, ignoring Lily's glare to climb out of the bed, steadying myself slightly against one of the bed posts.

"Where are you going?" Peter asked, taking a sandwich off the plate when it became clear I wasn't going to eat it.

"Just off to get a shower," I said, walking a little drunkenly towards the bathroom.

"Good," Severus muttered. "You stink."

Sirius snorted, neatening my covers and then sitting down in my place. I left them to all get comfy and had no doubts that when I got back they'd be stretched out in full Marauder fashion. Even Severus and Lily.

If the teachers could see us then they'd have burst from happiness; a Slytherin friends (no matter how much he protests) with Gryffindor's. Of course if the teachers could see us then we'd be in detention quicker than you could say 'Acid Pops' for having a Slytherin in the Gryffindor Tower, a girl in the boys dorms, and hiding five illegal Animagi, an unknown werewolf, and a werewolf training to be an Animagus.

Once safely inside the bathroom I stripped my clothes off, throwing them into a pile in a corner where I knew they'd stay dry. My bandages quickly joined them in the corner.

Slowly, I examined my body before getting into the shower, noting where all my cuts were and where I had a red cut that had been healed already, proving it hadn't been very deep.

Overall, I only found one scratch on my back that I thought would scar. One was nothing compared to Remus's multiple scarring I knew he had. Anyway, girls were meant to like scars, even if a small voice whispered that Lily was the only girl that counted and she wouldn't care.


	14. Unpredictable Choices

The weekend passed surprisingly quickly, with most days spent either in the Marauder dorm (after smuggling Severus and Lily in) or in the Room of Requirements. By the time the day dawned on Monday I was fully healed, after the help of Lily's spells and Severus's potions, unfortunately that meant I had to go to classes.

As usual the Marauders and Lily sat together at the Gryffindor table for breakfast and Severus went to the Slytherin table. We often invited him to sit with us for meals since there was nothing in the rules against it, but he'd always refused.

Taking a piece of toast from the plate in front of me and spreading a light layer of butter on it, I glanced over at Severus, frowning when I saw Bartemius Crouch Jr had sat next to him and seemed to be talking quite heatedly with him.

Eventually, Severus said something back, his face creased into a frown. Nearly all the students in hearing range from the Slytherin table turned to stare at him as whatever Severus had said sunk in.

Raising his eyes, he noticed me watching him and stood up, ignoring Crouch's gob smacked expression. The rest of the Marauders, Lily included, looked up as Severus walked up to our table and took the spare seat between Peter and Sirius.

The whole of the Great Hall seemed to hold its breath while waiting for our reaction. Even though word of our friendship had spread around school, it seemed no one really believed it.

"It's about time you decided to sit with us," Peter grinned, handing him a plate.

Severus took the plate and began eating a slice of toast, he seemed distracted and I couldn't help but wonder what it was that Crouch had said to get that sort of reaction.

The teachers seemed just as shocked as the students, gaping in disbelief as the rest of the Gryffindor's reluctantly welcomed Severus to their table when they saw the glares coming from the Marauders; no one really wanted to be next on our prank list. Dumbledore looked like he was going to burst with happiness, his eyes sparkling so much they might as well have been leaking glitter.

I didn't get chance to ask Severus what was wrong before we had to go to class, unfortunately it was the class we were all separated. I headed to Divination with Peter but my head wasn't in it; too busy worrying. Severus never showed emotion around those he didn't trust, which meant whatever Crouch had said had to have been important for him to take such a drastic move.

Finally, we met up with everyone outside the Defence Against the Dark Arts classroom. Thinking quickly, I stopped our group from going in; checking to make sure Professor Redburn hadn't noticed us yet.

"Let's skip this lesson," I suggested. "We can go to the Room of Requirements."

Lily opened her mouth, most likely to protest if the frown on her face was anything to go by, but then closed it again when I shot a quick glance at Severus. Whether they noticed something was wrong as well, or just didn't want to go to class, the rest of the Marauders agreed.

The Room transformed into our Animagi training room that had quickly become the new Marauder Room since it was an easier place to meet up than sneaking Lily and Severus into the dorms, plus it had more room.

"What's wrong then?" I asked Severus once everyone had sat down.

"What do you mean?" Remus looked up, turning towards Severus for answers.

"Crouch said something to him during breakfast," I explained.

"Apparently not just me," Severus grimaced. "He's approached most of the Slytherin's in Seventh and Sixth year if what he told me is true. That includes your brother, Sirius."

"What did he want?" Sirius asked harshly, his brotherly instincts coming out even if he hadn't spoken to his brother since leaving home and declaring none of them as family.

"He was recruiting," Severus said softly. "You know from the Prophet that there's someone called Lord Voldemort trying to take control."

"I read about him," Lily interrupted. "He wants to get rid of all the Muggle-borns and Half-bloods. He believes Pure-bloods are better than everyone and anyone else is unworthy of magic."

"He's evil," Sirius said shortly. "Worse than my family."

I winced at his tone, but turned back to look at Severus, realizing what it was that made him leave his House table.

"Crouch is already one of his followers and has instructions to find other followers from 'pure' families and convince them to join him," Severus said, confirming my suspicions. "I told I wasn't now, nor would I ever be interested."

There was silence for a bit as we all took in the news and what it meant. We'd all heard of the war going on outside of the school walls, it just seemed unreal that it had finally become a reality.

"The war has finally reached us," Remus said sadly. "It's our time to choose a side."

There was silence for a bit as we thought about what everything meant and how things would change. Remus's words seemed to echo around the room. I looked around and saw determination on every face, but fear in their eyes. Sirius had sadness clashing with fear in his eyes and I knew he was thinking of his brother.

"I'll stand in the light," I stood up out of my chair and pulled my wand out. "On my word as a Marauder and as a member of this pack I swear to stand against the darkness."

The end of my wand glowed, surprising me, but I didn't put down my wand. Sirius stood up next to me, pointing his wand at mine. He repeated my words, smiling as a light began to glow at the end of his wand too.

Remus stood up and joined us, his wand glowing brightly like ours. Lily had no hesitation standing up and declaring on her word as part of the pack, but stopped before swearing on her word as a Marauder, checking to make sure she was part of the group before continuing.

"I'll stand in the light," Severus stood up. "On my word as the first Slytherin Marauder and member of this pack I swear to stand against the darkness."

"What happens if we loose?" Peter asked, he was stood with his wand pointed at ours, but hadn't sworn anything yet.

"Then we keep trying," I said stubbornly.

Slowly and nervously, Peter made the oath, his wand lighting up like ours had done. Once all the wands were lighted, they seemed to glow brighter.

Somehow we all knew that there was no breaking our oath. Remus had said that once part of the pack it was for life and there was no getting out of it. Everyone knew we'd sworn on our lives, but we felt lighter and more confident, even Peter seemed to stand taller. We had something to aim for.

The wands glow faded and we all sat back down, feeling closer than we ever had before. Grinning, I pulled the Marauders Map out of my pocket and opened it, spreading it across the table that had just appeared.

"It seems this now needs editing," I announced, pointing at the writing at the top of the map.

"That means we need Marauder names for Severus and Lily," Sirius said.

It was amazing how quickly the mood went from serious to joking as we all began to think of names for the two new official members of the Marauders.

"Let's start with Severus," Peter decided.

"Hunter?" I suggested, imagining his Animagus form.

"Chase?" Peter guessed.

"Midnight?" Remus offered.

"None of them fit," Severus rejected them all.

"Kitten?" Sirius grinned.

I burst out laughing while Severus glared at Sirius, even Lily was laughing.

"How about Whisper?" Lily asked.

"That one's good, let's put it to vote, those who like it raise your hand," I put my hand up, and laughed as everyone else did too except Severus.

"I don't like it," he muttered.

"Tough," Sirius patted him on the back. "You were over-ruled."

"Yeah, if I have to be Wormtail you can be Whisper," Peter said. "I think you got it lucky."

Realizing his name could have been much worse, Severus accepted the name. "What about for Lily?" He asked.

"Bambi?" Peter recommended, making the rest of us snort as we'd found that name when thinking of one for me.

"Fawn?" Remus proposed.

"Hart," I said, not even realizing I'd said it until everyone turned to look at me.

"Heart?" Lily repeated.

"It's spelt H-A-R-T," I explained. "It means Deer and I just thought it fit."

The original Marauders gave me a knowing look as it was put up to vote and everybody, even Lily, accepted it. Admittedly, one of the reasons I'd suggested the name was because I thought Lily had a lot of heart and was really accepting. Of course another reason was that she'd stolen mine.

Knowing we didn't have much time left before our next lesson began, we edited the Map:

Messrs Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, Prongs, Whisper, and Ms Hart

Purveyors of Aids to Magical Mischief-Makers

Are proud to present

THE MARAUDERS MAP


	15. Opposite Effects

"The whole point of the Blasting Curse is to clear anything that might be in your way, it is a good spell to have in a duel and can be used against almost anything," Professor Redburn lectured.

I looked up from my notes and glances around class, noticing Lily, Severus, and Remus all writing down much more than Professor Redburn was saying. Meanwhile, Peter was copying as much as he could off Remus's parchment and, if the frown he was wearing was any indication, he probably didn't understand a word of it.

Sirius, who was sat next to me, wasn't even trying to take notes; instead he was writing down what I assumed to be prank ideas, a big grin on his face. Feeling my gaze on him, Sirius looked up at me and winked.

"When's the next full moon?" He asked in a whisper, shooting a glance around the room to check for anyone who might be listening in.

I shuddered without meaning to at the thought of another full moon. "I don't know," I muttered.

"The spell for the curse is Confringo, you point your wand at whatever you're wishing to blast and then move quickly or you'll be blasted by your own curse…" Professor Redburn continued.

"This time it will be better," Sirius comforted. "Remus said the first time is always the worst."

"Mr Black, since you can find time in my lesson to talk you must already know everything to do with the Blasting curse," Professor Redburn interrupted. "Care to demonstrate for your classmates?"

Sirius snuck a quick look at my notes, reading the incarnation necessary for the spell and then pointing his wand at the nearest target which, I noticed with a wince, was Professor Redburn's desk. Cleary Sirius hadn't been listening at all or he would have known that he wasn't actually meant to cast the curse.

"Confringo," Sirius cast, his eyes widening when the curse hit the desk, causing it to explode into flames.

Professor Redburn put the fire out quickly with an Aguamenti charm. "Detention Mr Black," he sighed. "Class dismissed."

We escaped the room in a hurry before the teacher could notice he hadn't taken any points off. Lily, Severus, Remus, and Peter caught up to us as we were walking outside.

"What were you thinking?" Lily demanded.

"He told me to cast it!" Sirius defended.

"He didn't think you were actually stupid enough to try it!" Lily threw her hands up in the air in frustration.

"Clearly he was wrong there," Severus drawled, causing everyone to snort and Sirius to pout.

"At least I now know I can cast it correctly," Sirius grinned.

"You're hopeless," Lily sighed, sitting down under the tree on the edge of the lake.

"Don't worry," Remus assured her. "You get used to it."

"Oi!" Sirius exclaimed, tackling him to the ground. "I'm not hopeless!"

"He never said you were," Peter pointed out, sitting down next to Severus and watching Sirius and Remus tumble around on the grass.

"I know," Sirius panted. "But I can't tackle Lily."

"Too right you can't," Lily sniffed, her eyes sparkling with laughter.

I laughed and picked Sirius up off the floor; with his extra werewolf strength Remus had easily managed to win and would continue doing so, but Sirius was nothing if not stubborn, and I knew he'd keep trying to win if we let him.

"If you two are quite finished, I think we should probably be in the RoR now, helping Remus," as expected Remus groaned loudly and flopped down on his stomach next to Lily.

"I'm not getting any closer," he moaned. "We might as well take a break until after the Christmas holidays."

"It's only November!" Peter protested. "If you stop now you'll never get it."

Remus huffed, burying his head under his arms. "But it's taking so long."

"It took us nearly three years," Sirius said dryly.

"The youngest person recorded to complete an Animagus transformation was twenty," Lily reminded him. "You're only seventeen."

"You and Severus managed it in less than a week," Remus muttered, sitting up slightly.

"I only did it thanks to my Occlumency," Severus protested, looking up from his DADA book.

"That's actually a good point though," I said thoughtfully. "How did Lily manage it so fast?"

"Maybe it's easier for girls," Peter suggested.

"Well, we are so much smarter," Lily grinned.

"That was just asking for it," Sirius laughed, picking her up before she could protest.

"Sirius!" She shrieked, alerting the other students to her plight. "Put me down! Sirius!"

"As you wish," Sirius smirked, dropping her into the lake before running over to us and cowering behind Remus.

"She's going to kill you," Peter said in a faint voice.

Sure enough, Lily charged over to us, still dripping wet, and had her wand out in less than a few minuets.

Unable to resist, I burst out laughing at the sight of Lily towering over Sirius with her wand raised. I heard Peter, Severus, and Remus join me in hysterics which only got worse when Lily charmed Sirius's hair a bright purple. Lily easily charmed herself dry again and then sat down next to me; as far away from Sirius as she could get.

"That…colour…suits…you…Padfoot," Remus gasped out between laughs.

"You think this is funny?" Sirius asked, mock scowling at us.

"Hilarious," Peter grinned.

Before any of us even realized it, we were in the middle of a Prank War and students were quickly racing back inside to get out of the line of fire. We were all laughing while we sent off charms and hexes to each other, even Lily and Severus were having fun.

Unfortunately, as with all Prank Wars, there was only one rule: you had to keep every prank that was placed on you until midnight that night. Which meant we gained even more stares than usual as we sat down to eat dinner, Severus eating at the Gryffindor table again.

Lily had yellow skin and black hair that had some sort of pink confetti in it, while her normal school robes had turned green and her Prefect badge, which now read 'Padfoot', was singing the house song as loud as it could. She had definatly come out best.

Severus had fared no better than any of us, and his once black hair was a neon green and in a sort of afro, his skin was covered in orange polka-dots, and his robes were a sickly pink colour with the words 'Go Gryffindor' written on his back. Even stranger though was the fact neither of the seemed to care and just got on with eating their dinner.

Sirius, who had been the original target, came off worse than all of us; his hair was still purple from Lily's charm, but also fell to his knees with streaks of blue and yellow running down it, his skin was rainbow streaked, and his robes were charmed to act like a mirror, but it was a wizard mirror which meant it kept shouting out insults whenever someone looked at it, plus it looked like someone had poured silver and gold glitter over him because it was everywhere, including in his food. The whole effect was blinding and we had to shield our eyes before looking at him.

Peter also looked worse for wear; his mousy brown hair was spiked into one big point on top of his head (though it had been charmed longer to look like he had a cone on his head), his hair also had a red streak curled around from the point to his scalp with reminded me of an ice-cream. Nothing had been done to his skin, though he had a few 'tattoos' of our Animagi forms that danced around and moved from his hands to his forehead and to any other part of his skin that was visible. His robes had been coloured turquoise and if you looked closely blue, green, and black butterflies were printed in random places.

Remus had his hair charmed off, but there was a giant red M painted on his scalp, his Prefect badge read 'Perfect' and was an electric blue colour that made a loud banging noise whenever anyone other than a Marauder walked past him. His robes had somehow ended up red and black with a green frog hopping around the stitching and sticking its tongue out at the teachers.

My own hair I knew was charmed brown and had yellow birds flying around my head with a sign around my neck that said 'Since It Already Looked Like A Birds Nest', my skin was lilac with orange daisies tattooed everywhere. My robes were red, green, yellow, and blue (the House colours), with shooting stars raining from my collar to the hem of my robe where they exploded with the sound of a lions roar, and my Head Boy badge had the words 'Empty Headed Boy' in capital letters.

The teachers looked unsure as to whether to take points off or let us be, but in the end gave us each a detention to compromise when the resulting noise and colour from our charms began to annoy them. Though Flitwick was heard rewarding us ten points each for 'excellent charm work'.


	16. Halloween

"Happy Halloween!" Sirius grinned, throwing black confetti over us while sitting down for breakfast.

I frowned at Sirius, shaking my head in a hopeless attempt to dislodge some of the pieces from my hair. Under closer inspection I saw the confetti must have been meant for Muggles, since it was made up of little witches on broomsticks, pointy hats, bats, cats, and pumpkin heads.

"Is there a prank planned for tonight?" Lily asked, brushing the confetti off her robes.

"Is that a hopeful tone I hear?" Remus teased, waving his wand over the confetti with a frown.

The confetti floated up into the air and, with an elegant swish of Remus's wand, it came to life, multiplying and then hovering over everybody in the hall.

"Was that meant to happen?" Severus asked idly, batting away a small laughing pumpkin head.

"Um, no," Remus admitted, his face going red. "It was meant to vanish."

Sirius snorted and pulled some more confetti out of his pocket, this time in orange. "Don't suppose you can do the same to this could you?"

Deciding it would be best to get to class before we all got in trouble; I dragged Sirius out of his seat and began walking towards the Charms classroom, knowing the others were following.

Sirius was still muttering to himself and trying to animate the confetti by the end of Charms. The fact people were still being plagued with the black pieces from breakfast just seemed to make him more determined.

"Please Remus," Sirius begged. "Teach me how you did it."

"I don't know," Remus insisted. "It was an accident."

"Oh for Merlin's sake," Lily exclaimed, pointing her word at the confetti. "Watch carefully. Vitam Multiplica."

The confetti repeated the actions of this morning; multiplying and coming to life before disappearing down the halls to torment the students.

"Brilliant," Sirius grinned. "Thanks Hart."

"Do we even need to do a prank tonight now?" Peter asked.

"Probably not," I said. "We'll see how it goes."

The Great Hall was once again decorated to the fullest when we walked in for the feast that night. Giant pumpkins stood in the middle of each House table and the roof had streamers and banners everywhere.

"Food," Sirius moaned, sitting down and dragging the nearest plate towards him.

"Do you ever stop eating?" Severus asked in disgust.

"Nope," I answered for him.

Lily sat down next to me, causing my heart to skip a beat. She picked up a plate of chicken legs and looked at them suspiciously.

"No prank tonight right?" She poked her food as if expecting it to start dancing any minuet.

"For you my lovely Hart? No, no prank," I took a chicken leg and bit it to prove my point.

Before she could answer shouting began at the Slytherin table. Turning around, we saw the Slytherins still being attacked by black and orange confetti and their plates of food moving away from them.

"For the Slytherins however," I continued, sharing a grin with Sirius.

"I thought you'd changed!" Lily exclaimed angrily. "What did they do to you?"

"Take a closer look," Remus urged her, watching the Slytherins with a strange expression on his face. Sirius and I had planned the mini prank on our own for once.

Lily turned around again and looked back over at the table, it was hard to concentrate thanks to all the confetti, but the only students that were actually being pranked were the ones that Severus had complained were bothering him; all the others were eating normally and actually looked a little amused by the prank.

In fairness, Lily couldn't even say anything about the confetti since it was still bothering everybody, including the Marauders.

"Oh," Lily blushed. "I'm sorry Prongs, I jumped to conclusions."

Severus was watching the prank with a smirk, he turned back to look at us and I could see the thank you that he'd never say in his eyes, I smiled to let him know it was okay.

"That's not even the best bit!" Sirius exclaimed, taking his wand out of his pocket.

Noticing the confused on my face, Lily, Severus, Remus and Peter moved away from Sirius, knowing that if I wasn't in on the next part then Sirius had done it alone, which was never a good thing.

"Vitam!" Sirius cast, pointing at the pumpkins on the table.

Shrieks filled the Hall as the giant pumpkins came to life; some floating in the air after students and others growing roots to walk on. There was a stampede of students rushing out of the Hall until the only people left were the teachers and the Marauders.

"Potter, Black, Pettigrew, Lupin, I expected something like this from you," McGonagall said as Professor Flitwick stopped the pumpkins. "But Mr Snape and Miss Evans, I never would have thought you'd be involved."

"It was Padfoot's idea," Severus pointed out.

"Hart helped!" Sirius exclaimed.

"Prongs started it," Lily put in.

"For once I didn't do it!" Remus laughed.

"Me neither!" Peter added.

"Moony's right," I spoke up, knowing how much our nicknames confused teachers. "Whisper, Hart, Moony, and Wormtail didn't do anything."

"Neither did Padfoot or Prongs," Sirius grinned, causing us to laugh.

McGonagall rubbed a hand across her forehead and sighed. "You can all have detention this Saturday."

"Please Professor, it's the full moon Friday," Remus spoke up.

McGonagall blinked a few times, she had clearly not expected Remus to admit something like that in front of us. "Sunday then, you should be recovered by then."

We nodded and hurried out, unable to hide our grins, even with thoughts of the full moon.

"What day is it?" Peter asked while we climbed into the Gryffindor Tower after saying goodnight to Severus.

"Tuesday," I supplied with a sigh. "Three days."

"It'll be better this time," Remus reassured, walking up to the stairs to the boys dorm with Peter.

"You coming?" Sirius asked, following them.

"In a bit," I murmured.

Sirius nodded and left me in the Common Room. Lily came over and put her hand on my arm.

"Are you okay?" She asked gently.

"I think so, but sometimes it just hits me," I admitted.

"I think sleep would help," she smiled.

"You're probably right," I smiled back at her, my stomach twisting in response to her hand on my arm.

"I always am," she leaned over and hugged me.

For a few seconds I just stood there, frozen, but eventually I moved my arms up and hugged her back desperately, scared that if I let her go she'd disappear. I buried my head into her hair.

Finally, Lily pulled back and reached up to brush my cheek, it was then I realized that I'd been crying silently.

"Goodnight James," she said, turning to go up to her dorm.

"Goodnight Lily," I whispered, knowing she'd already gone and feeling a strange sort of emptiness at the thought.


	17. Risky Times

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter contains bits from the Marauder chapter JK Rowling wrote. If you haven't already read it, I advise you go do so now.

The next two full moons passed much like the first one, if the pain had been less than before then it was such a subtle change that I hadn't noticed. Before any of us realized how much time had gone by McGonagall was coming around with a list for people who were staying at Hogwarts.

"None of you sign it," Sirius said before she got to us. "I'm inviting you all to come and stay with me at my new house."

"It's a full moon over the holidays," Remus warned him.

"I have a basement," Sirius told him. "Plus it would be better if James wasn't home for that, don't you think?"

Eventually we all agreed to stay with Sirius over the Christmas holidays; Peter, Severus and Remus had planned to stay at Hogwarts anyway, Lily's parents were going to visit her sister Petunia for Christmas since she'd recently gotten married and bought a house, and I'd gotten a letter giving me permission to stay with Sirius.

"Who'd your sister marry anyway?" Severus asked Lily as they sat on Peter's bed, watching us try to pack.

"Vernon Dursley, he's an awful man, I don't know what she sees in him," Lily muttered.

"This isn't mine," Remus held up a red top with a lion stitched on it that he'd pulled out of his trunk.

"That one's mine!" Sirius grinned taking it off him and stuffing it into his own trunk.

"Does it actually matter if our things are mixed?" Peter asked. "We're all staying at Sirius's anyway."

Once that was pointed out to us packing went a lot quicker, anything found that could be useful over the holidays was chucked into the nearest trunk. Severus and Lily helped by trying to find anything warm for us to wear and packing it.

The house Sirius had bought in summer that year with his late Uncle Alphard's money had four bedrooms and was a typical Muggle looking home. There were pictures of the original Marauders up and Lily put some new ones up of the six of us after asking if she could.

After some quick charm work, we added two extra rooms to the house, and added charms so that the Muggles couldn't see that the house was now bigger. Sirius gave us permission to decorate our rooms however we liked, since as long as he owned the house they were our rooms. We all started by writing our names on the doors and then got to work on the inside.

It was a fun first few days; we spent the time either adding things to the house, both our rooms and the other rooms of the house, or exploring the town. On one of the days we went to a park near by and had a snowball fight. That was the day we added a fireplace to the living room.

Unfortunately, the fun ended on the 23rd December when word got to us that my Aunt Dorea Potter had been killed protecting a Muggle family against Death Eaters. Sirius and I both received invitations to the funeral the next day since Dorea had originally been a Black. My Parents had owled to say that we could bring Severus, Lily, Remus and Peter with us to the funeral.

"I'm so sorry James, Sirius," Lily said when we told everyone the news.

"I didn't even know her," Sirius waved off her concern.

"Don't worry about it," I murmured quietly.

We dressed in our best black robes the next morning and Flooed to my Uncle Charlus's house. He was Dorea's husband and he and his son William, my cousin, had decided to have the funeral in the garden of their manor.

Once at the house we all said how sorry we were to Charlus and William before going over and greeting my parents. The funeral itself was short; Dorea's coffin was lit on fire and the ashes were swept away in a magical wind.

"My wife Dorea was a wonderful witch," Charlus spoke as the ashes floated away. I looked around and noticed that even though Dorea had never been disowned from the Black family, Sirius was the only Black that had come to her funeral. "She stood up for what she believed in, and always tried to help. She never made her beliefs a secret, even when they clashed against the very people who killed her, she fought for herself only partly, she fought for everyone else fully."

Charlus choked up and had to go sit down, my father stood up to replace him. "My sister-in-law will never be forgotten, she is but one of the tragedies of this war, but she knew when to fight. She was a great sister, wife, mother, aunt and friend. To Dorea," we held our glasses up and repeated her name.

Sometime during the speech Lily had taken hold of one of my hands, I knew I was crying again but I didn't care. I looked up at Lily and realized that even though she'd never met my Aunt, she too had tear tracks on her face.

"Are you sure you don't want to come home?" My mum asked at the end of the funeral. "You look ill."

The full moon was on Boxing day, and since it was Christmas Eve I knew I didn't look well to start with, but since my eyes were still a little red from crying I looked horrible.

"I'm sure mum," I muttered.

"If you change your mind we're only a Floo call away," My dad said.

After promising to Floo if I had any problems, we all went back to Sirius's house. I sat down on the couch and sighed. The house looked cheery, decorated with Muggle Christmas decorations we'd found in stores near by. Remus lit the fire the Muggle way since none of us were of age yet, casting a homey glow over things.

"How are you then?" Peter asked as everyone settled down.

"I'm fine," I answered honestly. "I wasn't that close to my Aunt, but with the moon so close my emotions are wild."

"Look on the bright side," Sirius smiled. "Christmas tomorrow."

"Yeah just look at all the gifts under the tree," Lily gushed.

As the only Muggleborn among us, it had been up to Lily to help us decorate the house. There looked to be quite a few gifts under the tree since we'd all bought each other something.

"Can't we open them now?" Sirius asked.

"No," Lily said sternly.

"I think I'm going to go to bed," I yawned, checking the clock to see that it was nearly midnight.

It felt like it had only been two seconds since I closed my eyes and all of a sudden Sirius was banging on everyone's doors to wake them up. Muttering about all the different ways I could kill him, I climbed out of bed painfully and shuffled into the living room.

The sight that met me made me smile; everyone was still dressed in their night clothes, sat down around the tree. As I walked into the room Lily smiled and handed me a hot chocolate, with a closer look I noticed everybody had one and assumed Lily had made them.

"Can we open gifts now?" Sirius whined.

"You act like a five year old," Severus drawled.

Sirius stuck his tongue out and waited until I'd sat down before diving under the tree and picking up the pile meant for Remus, dumping it on his lap, repeating this action with everybody until everyone had their pile of gifts.

"What was your mum talking about when she warned you not to make a repeat of this summer?" Lily asked as she unwrapped a box of Chocolate Frogs from Peter.

"Why don't you tell her, Elvendork," Sirius smirked, waving a Liquorice Wand from Remus at me.

"Elvendork?" Lily looked confused while Remus and Peter sniggered.

"It's Unisex," Remus pointed out, causing the four of us to start howling with laughter.

"Is someone going to tell me what happened?" Lily asked impatiently.

"Sorry," I grinned. "Sirius here bought a motorbike this summer."

"A motorbike?" Severus repeated, interrupting.

"A flying motorbike," Peter added.

"So anyway, my cousin Will, the one at the funeral, thought it would be a good idea to have a game of chase. Sirius and I on his bike and Peter, Remus and him on broomsticks," I continued.

"We were chased through a Muggle town and had a run in with the police," Sirius grinned. "What were the charges again?"

"No helmets, exceeding the speed limit by a considerable amount and failing to stop for the police," I quoted.

"You were arrested?" Lily exclaimed, stopping halfway through opening a box of Ice Mice from Sirius.

"Almost," Sirius shrugged. "But before he could charge us we saw these two and Will flying down the alley towards us so we made the car stand up and they crashed into it."

"We cushioned it first so they weren't hurt," I said quickly.

"Broke the broomsticks though," Remus pointed out.

"Yeah it's lucky the police took so long to get out of their shock or we'd have been arrested before we could sneak off," Peter grinned.

"How did you get home if you didn't have any brooms?" Severus asked curiously.

"Will was of age so he apparated us back to Potter Manor," Remus explained.

While the story sunk in we continued opening presents, it was a collection of sweets that we agreed to share in the end. Once we'd stuffed ourselves with sweets we relaxed around the fire. Peter sighed, drawing our attention to him.

"What's up?" I asked, knowing that it wasn't a 'too many sweets' sigh.

"This is our first Christmas as a new pack," Peter said. "It just feels like we should do something to celebrate it."

"Something to show our loyalty?" Severus suggested.

"Good idea," Lily nodded. "A necklace?"

"Too girly," Remus dismissed.

"A tattoo," Sirius grinned.

"Isn't that a bit similar to Death Eaters?" Peter asked nervously.

"Well we could design it and we don't have to put it on our wrists," I said, warming to the idea.

"We could get them on New Years Eve," Severus put in.

"Well then, if you all agree I won't be left out," Lily smiled. "Let's start designing them."


	18. Marked Fates

Everything was ready by the time New Years Eve came around; the templates for our tattoos were finished, thanks mostly to Lily for the design but, surprisingly, Peter for the drawing. Sirius and Remus had gone out earlier in the week to look for tattoo parlours, both Muggle and Wizard, and together we chose a Wizard parlour.

Inkling, the tattoo parlour we'd decided on, was on the outskirts of Knockturn Alley, a fact that very nearly made Lily change her mind but, since most magical tattoos were considered borderline Dark Magic, she accepted the parlour grudgingly.

Magical tattoos were classed as Dark Magic most of the time because the tattoos were embedded into your skin, so that even if your skin was burned off then the tattoo would grow back with the skin.

It was extremely rare for a Wizard to get a tattoo, even a Muggle one, the only instance I'd heard of was the Death Eater tattoos.

"Can you believe where we are?" Sirius asked excitedly, looking around the slightly murky looking parlour. The Wizard at the desk looked up at us and slowly began to make his way over.

"This is going to be great," I agreed absently.

"What's up?" Remus frowned, turning around to look at me. "You're not having doubts are you?"

"No, not at all, I was just thinking about what will happen when my parents see it," I explained, smiling to reassure them that I was sincere.

"Don't let them see it?" Peter suggested with a cheeky grin, earning a snort off Severus.

"He's got a good point," Lily pointed out. "You're already hiding a lot of things from them, what's one more?"

Before any of us could say anymore the Wizard who owned Inkling had made it to us at last.

"Right then, which of you wants a tattoo and what're you wanting?" The man mumbled, his words slurring slightly.

"We all want a tattoo," Severus spoke up, it was clear from his voice that I wasn't the only one disheartened by the mans appearance; I wouldn't want him anywhere near me with a wand.

"Good good, if you go through to the back, my assistant will sort you out, just remember to pay on your way out," the man muttered, waving a hand towards a purple curtain.

Lily breathed a small sigh of relief and led the way confidently to the back of the shop. Behind the curtain, the whole shop looked different; instead of the murky dusty interior that the front of the shop had, the walls were a dark blue and there were a couple of couches placed in one of the corners.

"Wow, I don't think I've ever had this many customers at one go before," a girl said from the other side of the room.

I turned around and stared at the girl; she was pretty, but that wasn't what drew my attention. Her hair fell down to her shoulders but it was impossible to tell what the colour had been originally; different coloured streaks ran through every inch of her hair.

Her hair alone would have caused me to stare, but what really made it hard to pull my eyes from her was the tattoo that decorated her neck; she was wearing a simple Muggle t-shirt and jeans, but her neck was covered by a dragon tattoo that was curled around her neck, finally coming to an end with its tail point resting in the middle of her cheek and its head in the middle of her collar bone.

"What tattoos are you wanting then?" She asked after giving us a few moments to get over the shock of her appearance, it was then I realized she must have been close to our age.

"Well, we have a drawing of the tattoos we want," Remus said, pulling six pieces of parchment from his pocket and handing them to the girl.

Her eyebrow rose as she flipped through the pictures, drawing attention towards the piercing in the corner of her eyebrow and reminding me strangely of Severus when he was a mixture of amused and impressed.

"This looks fine," she finally looked up. "Who's first?"

Immediately we all turned to look at Sirius since he was the one to suggest the idea and the craziest of us all. Rolling our eyes at us, he walked forward and looked at the girl curiously.

"I'll go first, if you tell me your name," Sirius declared boldly.

The girl laughed at his obvious flirting and directed him towards a chair that looked like a Muggle hair dressing chair. "My name's Linda Taylor."

"You look our age," Severus said cautiously, knowing women didn't like comments about their age.

Linda snorted. "I'm turning seventeen at the end of January, which I'm guessing is close to your age. Now, where do you want this?"

"Right wrist," Sirius waved his arm happily.

We'd agree on the right arm since the Death Eaters wore their tattoos on their left arms, plus we were all right handed, which meant we held our wands with our right hands.

"What school do you go to?" I asked curiously, watching as she began to draw the tattoo onto Sirius's wrist with coloured pens.

"I'm home-schooled, but I'm guessing you lot are from Hogwarts," she smiled.

We nodded and then moved over to sit on the couches in the corner, occasionally glancing over to see how Sirius was doing. A few minuets later we heard Linda mutter a quick spell and heard Sirius gasp, looking over I saw him examining his new and finished tattoo with a grin.

The tattoo design we'd agreed on was a thick silver band that encircled our wrists like a bracelet with a red M on the top of the wrist and our Marauder name on the underside of the wrist, written in red writing too. At the end of our nicknames was a small picture of our Animagus form.

Once we were finished we thanked Linda and paid the man by the desk. I could see why Sirius had gasped when the tattoo was complete; it was such a strange feeling, not pleasant but not uncomfortable either. The feeling soon faded though and it was only by looking at my wrist I could tell there was a tattoo there at all.

Back at Sirius's flat we gathered around Remus who had found an interesting spell while we had been designing the tattoos and were now ready to cast it.

"Movet Oculos," he murmured, starting with his own tattoo. "Malum."

The spell meant that when we tapped our tattoo with our wands and muttered the password then our mini Animagus forms would animate and be able to move to anywhere on our bodies, acting as an extra pair of eyes. Activating the spell was hard because it meant we could see two things at once and it was hard to concentrate, but Remus was sure that with practise we'd be able to use it often without headaches.

Saying the password again caused the tattoo to go back to normal and the animal would be back in its original place instantly. The password was Malum; a word which meant 'Mischief' in Latin. Only the person who owned the tattoo could animate it. For example; Peter couldn't animate Severus's tattoo, only his own.

We celebrated the New Year with a new kind of joy and family, finally collapsing into our beds in the early hours of the morning.

Briefly, before falling asleep, thoughts of what Lily had said about keeping secrets drifted across my mind and I felt a stab of guilt at hiding so much from my parents and causing my friends to do the same.


	19. Laughing Hearts

No one had noticed our new tattoos. January had flown by and we were all back to school life, homework and full moons. After much practise and head aches, we were able to use our tattoos to see for us. Though we still got headaches if we used the spell too long, Remus assured us the more we used it the longer we could go without headaches.

The week before Valentine weekend, we planned a prank on the school, managing to convince Severus and Lily that it would do everyone some good. Lily was still edgy about any of the teachers noticing our new tattoos and had taken to wearing long sleeved tops under her robes.

I was proud of my new tattoo, but no one had seen it because my robes kept it well hidden. I knew my parents would freak if they found out and while it made me feel a little guilty, I knew I'd done the right thing.

"Prongs!" Someone shouted behind me. "Hey!"

I turned around and saw Severus and Remus shoving their way through everyone in the corridor to get to me. Patiently, I waited until they'd made it to me before walking into the Transfiguration classroom and sitting down.

Severus took the seat next to Lily just in front of me and Remus sat next to Peter, behind me. Luckily for us, McGonagall told us that we'd be working in groups for a few lessons. Without waiting for her to stop talking, Sirius waved his wand over our table and watched as it turned into a circular table big enough to fit the seven of us.

"As Mr Black has just so kindly demonstrated," McGonagall said stiffly. "Please change your tables and get into groups, no more than eight to a group but no less than five please."

Once everyone was seated McGonagall explained that we were going to be doing a project on the magic behind the Animagus transformation and why it was different to the werewolf curse.

"What did you want earlier?" I asked Severus and Remus, while Lily got the books she thought we'd need out of her bag.

"We need to know when we're doing the prank," Remus said. "We know it's before the weekend but it's Thursday now."

"The potion's ready, we just need to sneak it into the kitchen," Severus added.

"We could do it at dinner tonight," Peter suggested, turning the pages in his text book without looking at it.

"That sounds good," Lily agreed, looking up from her book. "Who's going to set it up?"

"I will!" Sirius volunteered.

"Of course you would," Remus rolled his eyes. "It means skipping Charms."

"I'll go with him," I laughed, taking the map and invisibility cloak from my bag and putting them in my pocket.

"Sorted then," Severus said. "Let's start this project."

When the bell rang for Charms, we were no further along in the project than before, though Lily, Severus, and Remus all said they were going to go to the library as soon as they could for more information.

Sirius and I left our school bags in one of the secret tunnels so that if we were caught wandering around we had an excuse, and then went to the RoR for the potion and other prank things that needed setting up.

"I'll take the map and start setting things up in the Hall," Sirius said, picking up the potion. "You take this down to the kitchens."

"Ok, I'll see you in Herbology," I agreed. "Don't get caught!"

Sirius grinned and after handing me the potion, opened the map. "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good." Lines began to cover the blank parchment. "It's not me who needs to worry about being caught."

Nodding, I tapped my wand against my tattoo. "Malum." The stag ran up my arm until it was on the back of my neck, checking to make sure there was no one behind me. It was always a strange experience being able to see two places at once, but I was more used to it than before.

Knowing we had less than an hour before Herbology started, I began walking towards the kitchens and saw through my tattoo that Sirius was going to the Great Hall. I didn't bump into anyone on my way to the kitchens and the House Elves were as happy as usual to help out with our pranks after being reassured that it wouldn't hurt anyone.

Unfortunately, while I was going to pick up my bag from the secret corridor by the Transfiguration room, McGonagall spotted me and dragged me into her empty classroom.

"Mr Potter! Just what do you think you're doing wandering around school! You should be in Charms!" She exclaimed.

"Sorry, Professor," I smiled. "I left my bag in the corridor earlier and didn't realize until I was at the Charms room so I had to come back for it."

"So it's just a coincidence then that I found Mr Black coming back for his bag as well is it?" McGonagall asked dryly.

The tattoo on my neck moved to my right where I saw Sirius was sitting at one of the desks; I hadn't seen him as I walked in because I hadn't thought to look around. I realized then that I'd forgotten to stop the spell, and while I didn't care if she saw my tattoo, I didn't want any of the teachers knowing we could enchant them to see for us.

"Malum," I muttered under my breath and blinked as my sight went back to normal. "I don't suppose you'd believe we're both just very forgetful?"

Sirius snorted and McGonagall's lips thinned. "Ten points from each of you, and if I catch you missing your classes to wander around school again it will be fifty!"

Before she could change her mind and give us detention, we quickly got out of the classroom and picked up our bags. Snickering slightly at the fact that we'd missed the second half of our Charms lesson because we were with McGonagall, we walked out of the school towards the greenhouses for Herbology.

"How'd it go?" Peter asked as we gathered around the plant pots.

"Today class," Professor Sprout interrupted. "We will be replanting Alihotsy. Who can tell me anything about it?"

Lily put her hand up. "Eating the leaves causes hysteria," she said immediately.

"Correct, five points to Gryffindor." Professor Sprout began to walk around and check we were all planting them correctly.

Absently, we rolled our sleeved up and began moving the strange plant into new pots while I explained what had happened while they were in Charms. Once I was finished Sirius began.

"Everything was fine until I went to get my bag," he grumbled. "I closed the map, because I thought I wouldn't need it anymore and then out of no where McGonagall shows up! I told her I'd forgotten my bag, which she didn't really believe but was about to let me go when Prongs here showed up."

"Why didn't you just use your cloak?" Remus asked me, patting the soil down in his pot.

"I didn't even think of it," I groaned.

"Whisper will love to hear that," Lily giggled.

We had Herbology lessons with the Ravenclaws while the Slytherins and Hufflepuffs had Potion class.

"Don't remind me," Sirius whimpered. "I can hear him now: 'Reckless Gryffindors, never thinking about subtly for one moment!'"

"'Empty space where their brains should be,'" I joined in.

Peter, Remus and Lily were laughing at us, knowing we were only joking around. Unluckily, our laughter caused Professor Sprout to come over and see what we were doing.

"Well done, your Alihotsy's are looking very good indeed," she smiled at them.

"Thanks Professor," Sirius grinned charmingly at her, cleaning the mud off of his hands with a spell that we all copied quickly.

"What is that on your wrist?" Professor Sprout frowned, looking at Lily's wrist closely.

Lily blushed bright red and quickly rolled down her sleeve. I snickered at her but did the same before Professor Sprout could notice my tattoo as well. Peter's robe, unfortunately, got caught on something before he could cover his tattoo up and Sprout saw it.

By the end of class everyone knew that we'd got tattoos and Professor Sprout had promised to talk to McGonagall about it since she was our Head of house. As usual in Hogwarts, by the time we'd walked through the doors to the Hall for dinner everyone in school knew about our tattoos and had guessed that Severus had one as well.

In an attempt to get peoples attention off our tattoos, we activated the prank earlier than planned. The potion was the first thing to work as everybody's skin (including the teachers) turned purple and their hair turned pink. While everyone was laughing at each other and reacting to the potion, we began firing off fireworks, several of which knocked over plates of food.

The prank was worth the week of detention and five points taken from us each, though McGonagall did add that she would be sending a letter to each of our parents informing them about our new piece of body art. Sirius had laughed and said it would make his mother furious, I'd agreed but wasn't as pleased about the prospect.

Once back in the Gryffindor Common Room, Severus had gone to his dorm; we sat down next to a girl who was trying to get the Pumpkin Juice off of her book with a spell that didn't seem to be working.

"Hey Zoe," Lily smiled at the girl, leaning over to inspect the damage on the book.

"You owe me a new book," Zoe sighed, looking up at us with her blue eyes and a smile to show that she didn't really mind.

The potion was already beginning to wear off, I could see that Lily's hair was going back to it's normal red colour and Zoe's hair looked like it should have been blonde but was instead a very light pink.

"I could replace the book for you," Sirius grinned at her. "But only if you agree to come to Hogsmeade with me this Saturday."

I had the feeling that underneath the fading purple colour of her skin she was blushing, but she smiled at Sirius. "Well, if it's the only way to replace my book I suppose I'll have to."

"Great! I'll see you then Miss…" Sirius paused, realizing he didn't know her last name.

"Hurlington," Zoe informed him, picking up her book and walking up to the girls' dorms.

"I suppose you losers are going stag the weekend?" Sirius laughed, directing the stag part at me.

"Actually," Peter said shyly. "I'm going to Hogsmeade with Amy from Hufflepuff."

"And I'm spending the day working on my Animagus form," Remus added.

"What about Severus?" I asked.

"He's not going this weekend," Lily answered. "He said he wanted to experiment making a potion in the RoR."

"Boring," Sirius laughed, him and Remus standing up to go to the dorm. "Even Wormtail is going this year."

"What do you 'even Wormtail'?" Peter protested, following them up the stairs.

"You coming up, Prongs?" Remus asked, ignoring Peter and Sirius as they bickered.

"Soon, I just want to finish this essay off," I held up my Potions essay.

With Lily's help, I finished the essay off quickly and then stood to go up to the dorm but paused before leaving.

"Lily do you want to go to Hogsmeade with me this Saturday?" I asked in a rush. "As friends."

I hadn't planned on asking her, I was going to stick to my promise not to bother her, but I couldn't stop myself from asking, so I added the 'as friends' bit onto the end before she could reply.

Lily looked at me curiously for awhile before nodding slowly to herself. "Alright James, I'll go with you this once," she smiled at me before adding. "As friends."

"Great," was all I managed to say, dragging my stunned body up the stairs to the dorm and banging open the door, surprising Peter who fell off his bed.

"What did you do that for?" Peter demanded, rubbing his head and sending a glare at Remus and Peter as they laughed at him.

"Lily just agreed to go to Hogsmeade with me as friends," I said, still in shock.


	20. Successful Times

I don't think I've ever been as nervous as I was Saturday morning. It was the first time I was going to be alone with Lily and I wanted to change her perception of me. We were only going to Hogsmeade together as friends, but it was Valentines weekend so there was always the chance something would happen.

Sirius was lounging on his bed, watching as I pulled out all the clothing I owned and cursed myself for not choosing something to wear the night before. He looked completely relaxed in a pair of black jeans and a dark blue top; I envied him for being so calm while I was panicking.

"Relax Prongs," Sirius sighed, exchanging an exasperated look with Peter.

Peter was sat cross-legged on his bed; he too was already dressed in a pair of light blue jeans and a yellow top in an honour of his Hufflepuff date. Remus had left to go to the RoR about half an hour ago once he'd realized I wouldn't be ready for awhile.

"You don't normally care what you wear," Peter pointed out. "Just wear what you feel comfortable in."

In the end, I left the dorm in a pair of jeans and my red t-shirt that had a large golden phoenix decorating the front, its tail feathers curling around to my back. It was the same t-shirt I wore when running from the police with Sirius and it always made me smile whenever I saw it.

Lily, Zoe and Peter's date; Amy, were waiting for us by the doors to the Great Hall. Peter smiled at Amy and they walked off without saying a word, while Sirius went down into an elegant bow and kissed the back of Zoe's hand in an old-fashioned gesture that made her blush.

"Honestly," Lily rolled her eyes, watching as they walked away; Sirius still holding Zoe's hand.

"I'm guessing you don't want a grand gesture then," I teased, my panic from the morning fading once I saw Lily's wonderful smile.

She looked even more beautiful than normal; she was wearing a pair of jeans and an emerald green top that matched her eyes, but to me she looked to be glowing and I was hit by how lucky I was that she'd agreed to go with me to Hogsmeade.

"Definatly not," she grinned at me. "Where do you want to go first?"

"Anywhere's fine," I let her lead the way, silently praying she wouldn't choose Madam Puddifoot's.

Madame Puddifoot's was a very girly place for couples, and while it would mean Lily thought it was a date, Madame Puddifoot's was always worse on Valentines weekend than other day of the year; when it was just bad. Thankfully, Lily led the way to Scrivenshaft's Quill Shop, murmuring that she needed a new quill.

On the way I saw Sirius and Zoe heading to The Three Broomsticks; he grinned and waved at me, pointing at something behind me. Turning around, I noticed Peter slowly and reluctantly following Amy to Madame Puddifoot's. I burst out laughing and Peter glared at me, sending me a look that was clearly asking for my help.

Lily began giggling beside me and I cheerfully waved at Peter, earning myself an even stronger glare before he disappeared into the pink confetti of Madame Puddifoot's.

"Poor Peter," Lily laughed, continuing on to the Scrivenshaft's.

"He lived a good life," I said solemnly. "And he shall be missed."

Lily attempted to stop grinned and pulled a tissue out of her pocket. "He was such a nice boy!" She fake sobbed, drawing a few curious gazes from the other students around us.

"There there," I took her hand, not even realizing I'd done it. "There's always Remus, Peter and Severus for poor widowed Amy."

Unable to hold it in anymore, we both started laughing, walking through the door of Scrivenshaft's and nearly bumping into one of the quill displays.

"How about we go up to The Three Broomsticks?" Lily suggested once we'd stopped laughing, not bothering to look around the shop.

"What about your quill?" I asked curiously.

"I'll get it another day," she grinned pulling me out the shop by our still linked hands.

"Wait!" I stopped walking outside of Honeydukes. "I need to get some chocolate for Remus; it always cheers him up after an 'animal night'." I explained, conscious of the people who might be listening in.

"When is the next 'animal night'?" Lily asked, following me into Honeydukes.

"The 26th," I answered dully, picking up Remus's favourite chocolate and watching as Lily picked up a chocolate frog.

"But the Gryffindor versus Ravenclaw Quidditch match is on the 28th!" She exclaimed, not noticing as I placed her chocolate frog with Remus's chocolate and paid for them both. "Will you be alright to play?"

"I'll be fine," I grinned, happy that she sounded concerned. "I'm going to play even if my arm's falling off."

"Like that time you were hit by a bludger and it broke your arm, but you continued to play anyway," Lily said dryly. "You fainted once the match was over."

"I didn't faint!" I protested. "I passed out."

Lily snickered and then frowned, realizing that we were no longer inside of Honeydukes and instead nearly at The Three Broomsticks door. I handed her the chocolate frog she'd picked out and smiled at the look of shock on her face.

"You didn't have to buy me this," she told me. "I'll pay you back."

"It was one chocolate frog. You don't owe me anything," I said simply. "If anything I owe you for agreeing to come with me today," I added when she looked like she might protest.

Inside The Three Broomsticks, we were waved over by Peter who was sitting with Sirius and Zoe at a table. Sirius was talking happily to Zoe, his hands waving about wildly as he spoke, and Peter looked relieved to see us, no doubt feeling like a third wheel.

"Hey Wormtail," I sat down across from him, pulling Lily into the seat next to me and asking for two Butterbeers from Madame Rosmerta; the pubs landlady. "What happened to Amy?"

Sirius snorted and leaned over to pluck some pink confetti out of Peter's hair. Peter scowled at us both and shook his head, causing more confetti to fall out of his hair and into his drink.

"Laugh all you want, you'll get no pity from me when you're dragged into there," Peter warned.

"No worries," Sirius grinned. "Zoe would never do that to me."

"Well," Zoe pretended to think. "I do like purple."

Sirius put on his best betrayed face. "What did I do to you?" He cried.

"You do still owe her a book," Peter laughed.

"Indeed I do," Sirius agreed, standing up and tugging Zoe up with him. "To the bookstore!"

Snickering at the shocked look on Zoe's face as she was dragged out of the door, I knocked back the rest of my Butterbeer, noticing Lily had already finished hers. From the corner of my eye I saw a girl from Ravenclaw looking at Peter.

"Sorry to leave you Wormtail," I said suddenly. "But Lily mentioned earlier that she wanted some chocolate."

Ignoring Lily's confused expression; I helped her to her feet and took her hand, leading her away from the table. We stopped near to where Alice was sitting with Frank, his arm was around her and they were sat close together, they didn't even notice us.

"What on earth Prongs," Lily frowned. "We can't just leave Wormtail on his own!"

"He's not on his own," I snickered. "Look."

The Ravenclaw girl had sat down across from Peter once we'd left and they'd already started a conversation. Lily smiled and relaxed; realizing why I'd gotten up. Still holding hands, we left the pub and walked to the Shrieking Shack.

"It looks different now I know what it looks like on the inside," Lily commented. "It looks safer, but all the more dangerous."

"That doesn't make sense," I pointed out. "But I know what you mean; it looks different to me too."

When I used to come to Hogsmeade the Shack reminded me of fun nights and the risks we took. Remus never liked it; he said he saw enough of it without visiting during the day too. I realized what Remus meant, seeing it for the first time since being bitten the Shack looked like a prison and it reminded me of the pain I was going to experience for the rest of my life.

"Let's head back to school," Lily tugged my hand, as if she knew where my thoughts had been leading me. "We can sneak back through a passageway."

Cheering up from my dark thoughts, I lead Lily back to Hogwarts through one of the tunnels Sirius had found in our third year. It lead to a mirror on the fourth floor. Deciding to see how Remus and Severus were, we walked up to the seventh floor and entered the RoR.

"Thank Merlin you're back!" Severus exclaimed, rushing over to us, pausing for a second to look at our linked hands. "He's stuck."

Behind Severus was a wolf that looked like Remus in werewolf form except for the few changes that made the animal a wolf and not a werewolf.

"You did it!" I shouted happily. "Great going Moony."

Moony whined and sat down on the floor unhappily. It was clear that while he'd managed to transform into his animal form, he had no idea how to turn back.

"Don't panic Remus," Lily soothed. "There's always the spell to reverse an Animagus form."

Moony huffed and I had to smoother a smile that I knew wouldn't help things. I walked over to him and sat down next to him, trying to think of the best way to coach him through the transformation.

I pulled a handheld mirror out of my pocket and held it up to my mouth. "Sirius."

The mirror was a two-way magical device that allowed me to contact Sirius as long as he had the other mirror with him. Normally, we both kept them in our pockets and I was hoping he hadn't forgotten it.

"Hey Prongs," Sirius's face showed up in the mirror, he was grinning and looked to be back at Hogwarts, stood next to him was Peter. "What's up?"

"Can you two come up to the RoR?" I asked.

"On the way," Sirius winked, shooting a sly grin at Peter. "Race you!"

A few minuets later, after I'd explained to Severus and Lily what the mirror was, there was a bang as Sirius and Peter wrestled their way into the room. Both of them looked like they'd fallen over a few times and had probably tripped each other up.

"I win!" Peter announced happily, detangling himself from Sirius.

Sirius shot a jinx at him, causing him to trip over but Peter grabbed him as he fell. Pulling themselves up off the floor, they finally turned to look at us.

"Ah," Sirius said, looking at Moony. "This happened to Wormtail."

"Not to worry Moony," Peter grinned. "I'm the expert of getting stuck in my Animagus form."

"No kidding," I laughed. "In our first year you got stuck in your rat form five times before being able to change back and forth flawlessly."

Peter transformed into Wormtail and scampered up to Moony, turning back once he reached the wolf. Slowly, Peter began to explain the best ways of turning back while we watched curiously.

After a few tries, Moony successfully managed to transform back. Remus looked tired but I'd expected that since every time Peter had gotten stuck in his form he was always tired afterwards.

We helped Remus back to the Gryffindor tower and Sirius and Peter helped him into the Common Room while I waited outside with Severus and Lily.

"Did you manage the potion you were changing?" Lily asked.

"Not yet, but I'm going to try again later," Severus sighed. "Anyway, I'm going to go back to my dorm and add my notes to my potions book."

I had a feeling that Severus wasn't disappointed about just his potion; when he'd noticed our linked hands, for a brief second there was a flash of sadness in his eyes. Before he turned away I caught his eye, I didn't want to lose Severus as a friend, but I couldn't give Lily up when we were just beginning to get closer. I tried to convey that I needed to speak to him soon and I think he understood.

Lily and I waved to Severus as he left and then climbed into the Common Room. Sirius, Remus and Peter were sat on the seats by the fire and looked up when we walked in. Alice and Frank were sat with them and had a Charms book open between them.

"You coming to sit down?" I asked Lily, unwilling to let go of her hand.

"No, it's getting late so I'm going to go to bed," she declined. "But I had a really good time today."

"Me too," I whispered, suddenly aware of how close we were.

Lily let go of my hand but before I could properly mourn its loss, she leaned closer to me and touched her lips lightly to mine. It felt like a shock of electricity had gone through my body, but I never wanted it to end.

"Good night James," Lily smiled gently at me and walked up to her dorm.

When I finally gained control of my body and brain, I realized the whole Common Room was silent but nearly everyone was grinning. My many tries to ask Lily out and getting turned down were legendary in our school, but especially in the Gryffindor Tower.

There was an explosion of light and noise as Remus, Sirius and Peter threw a firework each into the fireplace to celebrate. All of a sudden everyone was cheering and shouting out how happy they were for me.

I caught Remus's eye and nodded my head towards the dorm, catching on, he said something to Peter and Sirius and I somehow managed to slip out of the room and up the stairs.

"Worth the wait?" Remus asked once we were all in the dorm and the door was locked.

Instead of answering I pulled out my wand and concentrated on my memory of the kiss and the feeling I got from it. "Expecto Patronum!"

For the first time, a silver stag burst from my wand, glowing brightly in the room and prancing around a little as we watched with wide eyes.

Eventually, the stag faded and I grinned widely at my friends, feeling better than I had for a long time.


	21. Different Directions

My life felt perfect for the first time in a long while. After the normal awkward bit people have after a first date, Lily had told me that she wanted to try being my girlfriend, as long as it didn't ruin our progressing friendship.

The only problem was that I needed to speak to Severus. Secrets don't stay hidden for long in Hogwarts, so most of the school already knew about my new relationship with Lily. Severus had looked a bit depressed at breakfast and I knew that I needed to speak with him.

Peter and Sirius were going to spend the day with Remus in the RoR to help him get the hang of his Animagus form. We were hoping that by the end of the day Remus would have nearly completed – if not finished – learning how to transform.

Lily was going to spend the day with Alice, and probably Frank, because with all the Animagi training and full moons she hadn't had much time to catch up with her friend and was (in her words) 'in desperate need of some girl talk'.

It was the perfect opportunity to talk to Severus without anyone interrupting. I waved goodbye to the other Marauders, making up some lie about going to sneak into Hogsmeade, and then went to find Severus.

Luckily, he was exactly where I thought he would be, hunched over a cauldron in the Potions classroom. Professor Slughorn had given him permission to go there whenever he wanted to since he had such good skills in Potions.

"Any luck?" I asked, walking through the door and gesturing towards his bubbling cauldron.

"I doubt it," he looked up and gave me a quick smile that didn't quite reach his eyes. "I'm making it 'Marauder Style'."

"You're throwing anything in to see what happens?" I snorted, leaning over to see the dark blue liquid.

Severus reached around me to pick up another ingredient, and without even checking what it was, he chucked it into the cauldron, causing the liquid to turn a light purple. "I thought you'd be spending the day with Lily."

"She's with Alice," I answered carefully. "Needed some girl time."

Severus nodded but didn't reply; instead he started to cut up one of the roots from the table. In the place of his normal evenly cut roots, the root ended up completely mangled, but Severus didn't seem to care, he selected two of the odd pieces and added them, causing the liquid to sizzle and change to a pink colour.

"We need to talk," I said once I realized he wasn't going to reply.

Severus sighed and turned to face me, gesturing with his hand at the stool next to him, taking the hint, I sat down, nervously tracing over my tattoo with my fingers.

"You love her," it was said as a statement, but I knew he expected a reply anyway.

"I do," I admitted. "I have for a while and I'd do anything for her. But I know you love her too, and I don't want to lose your friendship."

"You won't," Severus exhaled heavily. "Lily has never thought of me as anything except a brother, and I think I've known all along that she'd choose you; you're everything she needs."

Startled, I looked up to meet his eyes. "I expected you to be angry."

"A part of me is," he said honestly. "A part of me wants to hate you for being chosen instead of me, but even if I wasn't part of your pack, I couldn't hate you. I've seen now how you act around her and how you treat her. You can't choose who you fall in love with, and Lily fell for you."

I was at a loss for words; I'd expected him to be angry, like I would be, or to at least be upset, but he was strangely accepting. Luckily, I was saved from the slightly awkward moment by my two-way mirror as it began to vibrate.

"Guess what?" Sirius grinned once I'd pulled the mirror out of m pocket, not even giving me a chance to speak.

"You've got a detention?" Severus suggested, leaning over to see the mirror.

"No, well yes, but that's not what I was talking about," Sirius babbled.

"What Sirius is trying to say," Remus's face appeared in the place of Sirius as he pushed him out of the way. "Is that I can now transform successfully!"

"Brilliant!" I exclaimed, echoed by Severus. "Do I want to know how Sirius got a detention?"

Remus snickered, ignoring Sirius who was grumbling to himself. "He made the mistake of doing a victory dance outside of McGonagall's classroom."

"I thought you were in the RoR," Severus frowned.

"We were," Peter replied, shoving Remus out of the frame. "But we went to find you two and Lily."

"Lucky us," Lily's sarcasm came from somewhere behind Peter.

"We're in the Potions classroom," I laughed.

"Told you so!" Remus shouted, taking the mirror back from Peter. "See you soon!"

The mirror went dark, so I put it back into my pocket and turned back to look at Severus.

"Should we welcome them 'Marauder Style'?" I asked mischievously.

Glancing behind him to look at the pink potion, Severus grinned. "Sure."

We added a few more ingredients to the potion until it turned a baby blue, and then Severus levitated the cauldron over the classroom door. After a few minuets we heard the other Marauders coming towards the door.

As soon as the door opened Severus tipped the potion. Remus and Peter were the first through the door, so they got the worst of the potion, but Lily and Sirius ended up covered as well.

"His idea!" I pointed at Severus, who was unable to defend himself because he was bent over laughing.

"What does it do?" Sirius asked curiously, examining his wet robe sleeve.

"Nothing," I shrugged. "It's just messy."

"Well in that case," Lily grabbed my hands and dragged me over to where the potion was on the floor. With the help of Sirius, she pushed me onto the floor so that I landed in the puddle of potion.

Still laughing, we waved our wands and cleaned up the potion from the floor and ourselves before going to the Great Hall for lunch.

I was glad to have my conversation with Severus over with, I felt a bit lighter to know that he didn't hate me and I think he felt better too; his smiles reached his eyes and he didn't even flinch when Lily held my hand as we walked or when I put my arm around her when we sat down at the Gryffindor table.

Unfortunately my light happy feeling only lasted until breakfast the next morning before classes. My family owl, Bandit, dropped a red letter onto my plate that for a second I thought was a Howler before I realized that it wasn't smoking.

"You going to open it?" Remus asked once we'd finished eating.

"I'll read it in Divination," I pocketed the letter. "It's not like I have anything better to do in that class."

"You could try to learn something," Lily suggested.

"In Divination?" I raised my eyebrows and looked at her.

"Good point," Lily conceded, picking up her bag and walking with Remus to Ancient Runes. Sirius went with them since his Muggle Studies classroom was in the same direction.

"I suppose we better go train our Inner Eyes," Peter sighed, standing up from the table.

"I see an hour of boredom in a useless class in our future," I proclaimed in a secretive voice, causing Peter to snort.

All too soon we were sat in the back of the Divination classroom and trying to resist going to sleep. Peter was shuffling the Tarot cards while I opened my letter and began to read through it, hoping Professor Hilliam wouldn't notice.

Dear James,

I can't believe you got a tattoo, I understand that it was like a pact since Professor McGonagall informed us that your friends also have tattoos that are similar to yours, but your father and I are still disappointed in you.

We want you to come home for Easter; you can invite your friends to stay for the holiday as well. I expect that we'll see Sirius, Remus and Peter again but Professor McGonagall said that two other students were now part of your band of 'Marauders' so I look forward to meeting them.

This isn't an offer, you're coming home for the whole of this holiday, think of it as punishment if you must, but remember your friends may come too. I'm not angry at you about the tattoo, but I am disappointed.

Your father and I will pick you (and your friends if they can come) up at the platform in April.

See you soon.

Love from your Mum.

I re-read the letter five times before the words sunk in and then I handed the letter to Peter and placed my head onto the table in front of me, staying like that until the bell went.

"We have a problem," Peter announced when we met everyone outside of the DADA classroom.

"What now?" Sirius groaned, automatically walking away from the classroom and towards the RoR.

"We're going to fail all our classes at this rate," Lily grumbled. "I can't remember the last time I went to all my classes in a day."

"That's what we get for joining the Marauders," Severus laughed.

Once in the RoR and settled into our seats, Peter read out my letter. Severus and Lily looked confused, Remus winced and Sirius looked excited.

"I don't see the problem," Sirius bounced in his seat. "I love visiting your parents."

"I'm confused too," Lily admitted. "It will be nice to meet your family." She walked over and sat next to me on the couch, holding my hand.

"Care to explain the problem?" Severus asked. "We've got nowhere better to go; I was planning on crashing at Sirius's again anyway."

"The full moon's over the holidays," Remus said. "And James has no choice but to stay with his parents."

Realizing what the problem was, Sirius, Severus and Lily winced. For a moment we stayed in silence as we all tried to think of a solution.

"Well, we could all go with him and hope we can sneak out on the night of the full moon," Sirius suggested.

"Or we could Floo to Sirius's on the night," Lily added.

In the end we decided on Lily's plan and just had to hope that we were able to get to Sirius's without being noticed, it wasn't as bad if we were caught going back, but if my parents saw us sneaking out they'd want an explanation and I really wanted to avoid telling them the truth.


	22. Truthful Secrets

Just like I'd thought, my parents had been surprised that I was friends with a Slytherin, especially that it was Severus, the boy I'd claimed to hate just under a year ago, but they accepted him and, like with Peter, Remus and Sirius, treated him like family; an experience that seemed to overwhelm him at first.

My parents were delighted by Lily; especially once they found out we were together. They'd known I'd liked a girl called Lily and were thrilled that I'd finally managed to go out with her and that we were so happy together.

Like always, the Marauders – now including Lily and Severus – treated my house like home and my parents like theirs. It was hard not to, my parents treated all my friends like their own children.

"It's going to be okay," Lily soothed, squeezing my hand softly the day of the full moon.

My head was pounding, my muscles burned, and my bones felt brittle, just like they always did the day of the full moon. I knew if I looked in a mirror then I'd be extremely pale and I was shaking.

Remus was faring better than me because his body was more used to the changes, but I could tell that he too was in pain and he was only slightly less pale than I was. My parents were worried we were ill, but Sirius and Peter had managed to convince them not to take us to St Mungo's.

"I hope so," I muttered, laying down on my bed and trying to get comfortable.

"Look on the bright side," Severus said bracingly. "It will be over after tonight."

"Until next month," Remus pointed out gloomily from where he was laying on my couch.

We were all in my room since I hadn't managed to get out of bed. When at school the other Marauders would take it in turns to steal Pepper-Up potions for me on the days leading up to the full moon, but we hadn't managed to get any before leaving Hogwarts for the Easter holidays.

"Let's talk about a happier subject," Sirius suggested. "Like what prank we're going to do when we get back to Hogwarts."

Before we could begin to plan, my mum, Janet, knocked on the door and came in carrying two potion bottles that looked like Pepper-Up potion.

"Feeling any better?" She asked, placing her hand on Remus's forehead to test his temperature and then handing him a bottle, doing the same to me once Remus had downed the potion and steam came out of his ears.

"A little," I lied, wincing as the words irritated my sore throat.

"Are you sure you don't want me to Floo call a Healer?" She offered, frowning as I shook my head, ignoring the burst of pain that caused my eyes to water.

The day passed far too slowly for my tastes. My mum or dad would come in with drinks and sometimes more Pepper-Up potion, offer to call a Healer and then leave again. Finally though, the sun began to set and I could feel the moon beginning to rise slowly into the sky.

"Let's go," I announced, shakily standing up off my bed.

Sirius wrapped his arm around me and helped me walk to the fireplace, thankfully I had my own fireplace in my room and Peter had managed to borrow the bag of Floo powder from the kitchen thanks to his Animagus form.

"I'll go first and catch you," Sirius said. Normally I would be insulted that he thought I couldn't go through the Floo without falling, but I could barely stand up without help so I knew I'd need help.

Severus supported me while Sirius disappeared into the green flames. Peter took Severus's place in helping me to stay stood up while Severus followed Sirius into the fireplace. Lily balanced on her tiptoes, kissing my cheek briefly before stepping into the flames.

"James," Harold, my dad, stepped into my room. "Would you like to explain why I just got an alert that your Floo is being used?"

"Maybe tomorrow," I said weakly, letting Peter walk me closer to the fire.

"Where do you think you're going?" My dad exclaimed, taking a step towards us.

Before I got a chance to come up with a lie I felt a stab of pain in my stomach and cried out. Knowing the moon was close to coming up, I grabbed Peter's arm tightly. Luckily, he took the hint and threw a handful of Floo powder into the fire.

"James!" My dad looked concerned. "What's happening? Are you okay?"

By that point, I was bent over and panting heavily as I fought against the pain, my sight was going blurry and I just wanted to collapse to the floor and scream.

Blearily, I heard Peter speaking. "We'll explain tomorrow Mr Potter, but we have to go now."

The next thing I knew I was spinning around and then fell into someone's arms. I didn't even try to stand up as my body began to jerk and shake.

"What happened?" The person holding me up shouted, it sounded like Sirius but my brain felt so fuzzy.

"His dad walked in as we were leaving," Peter defended.

Another jolt of pain hit my stomach and suddenly I was screaming. It took awhile for me to realize I was now on the floor.

Someone cursed and I heard footsteps back away. "We need to transform, the moon has risen."

My bones began to break and my skin tightened, I heard a girl sob before all the talking stopped. Everything hurt and my body protested at being forced into a form that wasn't natural. My screams filled the room, echoed by somebody else as my pain reached its peak and my body began to convulse violently.

Eventually, the pain began to fade, but with it went my consciousness. Some part of me knew that I should resist against the wolf taking over my mind, but I was so tired, and it hurt so much. My thoughts blacked out to the sounds of howling.

"James? James please wake up," someone was shaking me, causing shocks of pain down my body.

I groaned, attempting to open my eyes. Thankfully, someone had shut the curtains so that the light was slightly blocked, but it still sent a sharp pain into my head. Once my eyes had adjusted, I recognized Lily bending over me, she had tear tracks down her face and a small cut above her right eye that was bleeding.

"Lily," I croaked, the word was barely recognizable thanks to my cut up throat.

With Lily's help I managed to sit up, and realized I was in my bed at Sirius's house. Lily was sat next to me on the bed while Sirius sat by my feet, Remus was sat on an armchair that had been dragged into my room from the living room, Peter was balanced on one of the chair arms and Severus was stood by my side holding a tray of potions and bandages.

"Thank Merlin you're awake," Sirius exclaimed quietly. "Lily wouldn't let us patch her up until you woke up."

It was then I realized everyone looked worse than usual; Sirius's arm was bandaged from shoulder to wrist and he had a bit of blood in his hair, Peter's hand was bandaged around the wrist and he winced when he moved it, but otherwise seemed okay, Severus was limping slightly and I noticed dry blood on his trousers around his left leg, Remus had a bandage around his chest and his right arm was bandaged at the elbow. Lily seemed to be roughed up but nothing too bad; the cut above her eye was small and it wasn't bleeding much, and her only other injury seemed to be her left arm where there was bruising from her wrist to elbow.

I couldn't see my own injuries, but once I'd swallowed the potions for my throat and head, Severus began to hand Lily potions to put on cuts and then bandages. First though he cleaned Lily's cut up with a potion until it was only a faint line that would fade in a few days. He put some more potions on her arm so that the bruises went from a nasty shade of purple to a pale yellow that would be gone by the end of the day.

Once I was completely bandaged up and all my cuts had been cleaned I had a scratch on my right cheek that was still noticeable but better than the bleeding gash it had been and my left arm was bandaged from my shoulder to elbow to cover the cuts that were still slightly bleeding.

"What time is it?" I asked, my voice breaking slightly, but better than before because of the potion.

"Half twelve," Peter glanced at his watch.

"What happened?" Normally it only took a few hours for me to come around and everyone to be healed and the wounds had never been so numerous.

"You were stressed, and when you're under stress the transformations are worse," Remus explained. "When you're dad caught you last night it added to the stress."

"It was awful seeing you like that," Lily mumbled, stroking my hair away from my face. I remembered that she'd never seen a werewolf transfrom and winced for her.

"It's okay," I attempted a pained smile. "I'm okay. But what am I going to tell my parents?"

"You could tell them the truth," Lily held my hand again and drew circles into my palm, calming me down. "I'm sure they'd understand."

"What if they don't?" I asked.

"They will," Sirius said confidently.

Realizing I was outnumbered, I nodded and, with a little help from Lily, got off the bed. Following my lead, the others gathered around the fireplace. By the look of Sirius's living room, we hadn't managed to get to the basement before I'd transformed, but it wasn't any damage that couldn't be fixed with a bit of magic.

My parents were waiting for us when we Flooed to my bedroom, they looked like they hadn't had much sleep and I could tell they were quite nervous. My dad opened his mouth to say something when he saw us, but I cut him off quickly.

"Why don't we talk in the living room," I suggested.

I could tell they were curious and even more nervous once they saw that we were all a little cut up. It was a bit of a squeeze getting everybody seats in the living room. My parents sat on a two-seater couch, Peter, Remus and Severus took the three-seater couch, Sirius sat down on the floor with his back against the three-seater couch and I sat on the armchair with Lily squeezed in next to me, half sat on my knee.

"Where did you go last night?" My mum asked. "You look like you've been in a fight. All of you."

"Well, we sort of were," I said cautiously, unsure of how to tell them the truth.

"Let's start at the beginning," Sirius announced, standing up and winking at me. A second later Padfoot was stood in the place of Sirius.

Catching on, Remus, Severus, and Peter transformed as well. Lily kissed my cheek and then jumped off my knee, changing into her doe form once she was on the ground. My parents stared at the animals in the room until, unable to resist, I stood up and changed too.

My body resisted slightly in pain, but transforming into Prongs was comfortable and I was used to it. Unfortunately, I knew it couldn't last forever, so I changed back and sat back down. Everyone else took the hint and went back to human form.

"That's amazing," my dad breathed. "You're so young, but you've already completed Animagi forms."

"Peter, Sirius and I managed our forms when we were fifteen," I informed them. "Lily, Severus and Remus did it this year."

"But I'm guessing none of you are registered," my mum sighed. "You're breaking the law. Why did you want to do this anyway?"

"Peter, Sirius and James did it for me," Remus said nervously. Carefully, he explained that he'd been bitten when he was younger and that we'd trained to be Animagi to help him through the full moons.

"That was so lovely of you," my mum gasped. "Helping out a friend like that."

"So you don't mind that I'm a werewolf?" Remus asked hopefully.

"Of course not," my dad answered, looking startled. "You're still the same boy who's practically grown up here."

Remus grinned happily and I released a breath I hadn't known I was holding at the thought that if my parents hadn't judged Remus then they probably wouldn't judge me.

Nervously, I told my story, starting on the night I got bitten and continuing until the day before. I included our tattoos into the story and then sat in silence while it sunk in. It was a nervous silence, everyone wanted my parents to accept the news and I hoped they wouldn't blame Remus for what happened.

My mum let out a small sob and got up from her chair; Lily knew straight away what was happening, so she slipped off my knee and went to sit next to Sirius and the floor. Crossing the room quickly, my mum pulled me out of my chair and wrapped me into a hug.

Once she'd released me we spoke for awhile about everything, my parents said that they didn't blame Remus and that they were so proud of all of us. My dad managed to convince my mum that it would be better for us if we didn't register our Animagi forms with the ministry because if we were ever in trouble our forms might one day save us.

Unfortunately, my dad did say that we had to tell Dumbledore everything when we got back to school. My parents examined our wounds from the night before, but because they were caused by a werewolf, they couldn't do anything more than we already had.

We demonstrated our Animagi forms again and showed off our moving tattoos. I was dreading telling Dumbledore about getting bitten because I didn't know what his reaction would be and I knew that Remus didn't want to disappoint the man that had given him a chance.


	23. Joined Forces

My parents dropped us off on Platform 9 ¾'s where we had to push through the crowd of students and their parents to get onto the train. Once settled into our normal compartment, Zoe came in to see Sirius and he quickly left to talk to her somewhere privately.

I was actually surprised that Sirius still seemed to be happy with Zoe, his longest relationship before her had been under two weeks, but Zoe didn't seem to mind that he often left her alone to hang out with the Marauders and she never demanded to spend time alone with him; she was happy to hang out with the us.

When Sirius came back in he was still with Zoe, which meant there wasn't much room inside the compartment. Lily ended up sitting on my lap while Zoe was on Sirius's. Alice and Frank popped in to ask about our holiday, but they soon left to sit with some of their other friends.

"Is anything planned for the feast?" Zoe asked nervously. "Because a heads up would be nice."

"But that would ruin all the fun," Remus grinned.

Zoe sighed dramatically and climbed off Sirius's lap. "I'm going to go find someone sane to talk to."

"Are we doing a prank tonight?" Lily asked once she'd gone.

Truthfully we hadn't planned one since the holidays had been so busy and with the worry over what Dumbledore's reaction would be, the prank had slipped all of our minds. I voiced my thoughts out loud.

"People will expect a prank though," Severus said thoughtfully. "They'll know something's wrong if we don't do anything."

"Any ideas then?" Sirius asked. "And if anyone suggests fireworks I'll hex them."

"What's wrong with fireworks?" Peter pouted. "They're classic."

"Interius animalis ostende," Sirius waved his wand at him. We all watched curiously as Peter grew a rat tail and ears.

"Where did you learn that?" Remus wondered, moving so that he didn't sit on Peter's tail.

"It was in the library," Sirius laughed, admiring his spell work. "I noticed it when we were going through our Animagi books."

"Is there a way of doing it to more that one person at a time?" Lily looked thoughtful. "And does it only work on someone with an Animagus form?"

After a lot of last minuet planning, the new school term was welcomed with a Marauder prank just like it should have been. Everyone in the Great Hall – teachers included – took on traits of their inner animal, much to our amusement. We were all told to go straight to Dumbledore's office, but since we needed to go there anyway we didn't mind.

"Ready?" I asked, tightening my grip on Lily's hand as we waited outside Dumbledore's door.

"Let's go shock him," Sirius winked at us, opening the door without knocking and walking straight into the room. Like any good Marauder we immediately followed and politely refused a Lemon Drop from the Headmaster, except for Sirius who would never refuse sugar.

"Well it seems I once again have a group of marauders in my office," Dumbledore looked more amused than angry which was a good sign. "Shall we begin to talk about your punishment, I assure you that Professor McGonagall has given me a few interesting suggestions."

"Actually Sir," Sirius lounged in his seat comfortably. "If you could just assign the normal detention it would be best. We have something more important to talk to you about."

"Very well," Dumbledore looked a little confused. "What did you wish to speak about?"

We all looked around at each other, clearly no one wanted to be the one to tell Dumbledore the truth; even Sirius preferred to stay silent. Gathering up all of my Gryffindor courage, I decided to take the lead.

"During the break, my parents found out a few…facts about us that they decided you need to know about," I told him. "You see we found out about Remus's lycanthropy in Second year and we wanted to help."

"We began researching ways of stopping him getting so hurt," Peter spoke up, playing anxiously with his sleeves. "We found a book about Animagi and how they could be around werewolves on a full moon."

"To skip a few years," Sirius interrupted. "In Fifth year we successfully completed the Animagus transformation. James, Peter and I went to the Shrieking Shack and we spent every full moon with Remus."

"If you don't mind me interrupting," Dumbledore looked shocked, something I'd never seen before. "Do you mind me asking what your forms are?"

"I'm a stag," I answered. "Sirius is a black dog and Peter is a rat."

"So that's where your unusual nicknames come from," Dumbledore muttered. "Continue."

"Well Sir, this is where I come in," Lily looked close to tears. "You see it was all my fault! I was looking for James and I ended up stumbling across them during a full moon and –"

She had to stop talking as she began to cry. Sighing, I picked her up out of her chair and sat down with her on my lap, pulling her close and hugging her, making soothing noises and rubbing her back.

"Were you bitten?" Dumbledore asked; he'd gone nearly as white as his beard, a fact that would have made me laugh at any other time.

"No Sir," I hugged Lily closer. "I transformed to warn her and she got away, but I didn't manage to get back into my Animagus form quick enough. I was bitten."

"But it wasn't Remus's fault," Sirius said quickly. "It was all just an accident."

"It was actually really lucky," I cut in. "Lily confronted me the next day and I told her everything, she wanted to help so she became a doe Animagus to spend the full moons with us."

"I'm failing to see where Mr Snape comes into all of this," Dumbledore whispered, he was still incredibly pale, but he seemed to be willing to listen to our story before asking questions.

"I decided that I was a fool to have pushed Lily away, so I went to try beg for her forgiveness and she took me to see the others." Severus smiled. "I was willing to do anything for her forgiveness, so I became an Animagus as well; a black panther."

"Our reasoning was that if he was breaking the law too then he couldn't get us arrested," Peter explained. "But while we were teaching him, we began to grow closer and ended up as friends."

"I too helped during the full moons," Severus added. "And it brought us closer than any of us expected."

"We became a pack," Remus said, speaking for the first time. "I really am sorry for breaking your trust Sir; I didn't think anyone would get hurt."

"I don't regret what happened," I stated boldly. "I don't want to be a werewolf, but if it was the only way to have my pack then I would become one again."

I then went on to explain about our tattoos and everything they could do, adding in that Remus had recently become a wolf Animagus. Once I'd finished Dumbledore wiped a hand across his face tiredly and didn't say anything. The room was silent except for the occasional trill from Fawks; the Headmasters phoenix. Eventually, Dumbledore looked back up at us and I think we were all shocked to see that he had tears in his eyes.

"You are all far too old for your age," he said gravely. "Everything you've been through and done is impressive. Your ideas have always been amazing, but becoming Animagi for a friend. I am very proud of all of you. My only question is to ask why you got the tattoos; while they will probably be a big help because they allow you to see, why did you want them?"

"We wanted something to prove that we were already part of a group," Lily smiled weakly, leaning against me and reaching a hand to show Dumbledore her tattoo. "We promised each other that we would never betray each other. It was a vow made on our place in the pack and as part of the Marauders. None of us will ever break that promise; we wanted something to prove that to everyone else."

Dumbledore looked at us sharply. "What exactly did you promise?"

"On my word as a Marauder and member of this pack I swear to stand against the darkness," Sirius recited, jumping slightly in surprise when his wand lit up just like it had when he first made the vow, this time though all our wands lit up as well even though we hadn't said anything.

"We choose our side in this war," Severus murmured softly, examining his glowing wand. "We won't stop fighting."

"I was going to wait until you'd graduated before asking, but it seems now would be the best time," Dumbledore sighed sadly. "I started an organisation called The Order of the Phoenix, it is an organisation against Voldemort, and all of its members are trusted allies to the light. Would you be interested in joining? I hate asking because you're so young, but I know if I didn't offer you would still be fighting anyway, at least this way you have help and back up if anything goes wrong."

"Are my parents apart of this?" I asked, remembering the times that they'd left in a hurry to go to 'meetings' and sometimes come home in the middle of the night wounded.

"They are indeed," Dumbledore nodded.

"I'll join," Sirius spoke up, unknowingly decided for all of us. Sure enough, the minuet the words left his mouth the rest of us agreed to join as well.

"I will notify you of the next meeting and that's when you will be initiated, but for now I do believe it is past curfew," Dumbledore gave us a pass and sent us out.

Instead of going back to our dorm rooms, we went into the RoR which had created couches and beds for us. We all took seats and stared at each other in numb silence.

"That's it then," Remus broke the silence. "We've entered the war."

"We can do this," Lily said confidently. "We're the worlds youngest Animagi in history; if anyone can survive this war it's us."

"What happened to me being the one to have too much ego," I muttered, smiling to let her know I was joking.

"Guess it rubbed off on me," she leaned over and kissed me gently on the lips.

"We're going to change the world," Sirius declared dramatically, throwing his arms up into the air and accidentally hitting Severus in the face.

"You won't get the chance if I kill you first," Severus grumbled, wielding his wand at him.

Sirius squeaked and transformed, running around the room as Padfoot. With a laugh we all transformed and just let go, forgetting about the war that was brewing outside Hogwarts protective walls and just trying to be teenagers. They'd be time to grow up later.


	24. Secret Flames

A week passed before we got any news from Dumbledore about our initiation. It was Lily who was sent a note in curly elegant writing that we quickly guessed was from Dumbledore.

It's time. Find an excuse to come to my office.

"Any ideas for an excuse?" Lily asked after reading the note aloud to us in a whisper. Severus was with us at the Gryffindor table like normal.

"We could do a prank good enough for McGonagall to send us to Dumbledore," Peter suggested.

"Before you lot, I had a perfect record," Lily sighed sadly, tucking the note away into her robe pocket. "Do you have an idea for a prank?"

"I do!" Sirius shouted, causing the other students around us to wince and shuffle away from our group.

"Anyone else?" Severus asked a little desperately.

"Food fight?" Remus lifted his spoon full of cereal and pretended to aim it at the Slytherin table.

"Too predictable," I dismissed. "Plus knowing our luck we'd be stuck cleaning it up again."

"Does that mean we're going with my idea?" Sirius asked happily.

"Depends what it is," Severus said cautiously.

"It's brilliant, just give me one second to have a word with Zoe," before we could stop him, Sirius climbed out of his seat and went to whisper something into his girlfriends ear. After a second she giggled and nodded, walking with Sirius back to where we were sitting.

"Lily, come sit with me for a bit," Zoe commanded, dragging Lily away by the hand to go sit with her and her friends.

"Right," Sirius rubbed his hands together in anticipation. "Follow my example."

Ignoring our protests and questions, Sirius skipped away from the Gryffindor table, straight towards where McGonagall was sat at the teachers table. Turning towards the others, I shrugged and stood up, ready to follow Sirius.

"Minerva McGonagall, my beautiful angel!" Sirius exclaimed. "Will you do me the great honour of going to Hogsmeade with me?"

The others students laughed while McGonagall turned red and started spluttering. I could tell she was going to recover and start shouting soon, so I quickly pushed Sirius down where he stood and snorted at his cry of surprise.

"Of course she won't go with you," I sneered before grinning up at McGonagall charmingly. "But you'll go with me won't you my charming Minerva?"

"But James!" I heard Lily shout dramatically from behind me. "I thought you were taking me!"

"Don't worry Lily; you will go to the ball!" Remus pretended to soothe her, causing the muggle-born students to laugh. "I'll take you to Hogsmeade."

"Traitor!" I tackled Remus to the floor. "How dare you hit on my girlfriend!"

"I thought you were going to Hogsmeade with McGonagall, Prongs," Peter pointed out.

"Not a chance," Sirius stood in front of the teachers table as if he was protecting it. "I'm going with Minerva."

"I'll duel you for her!" I pushed Remus away, pretending to forget all about Lily. Instead of pulling out our wands, Sirius pounced onto my back, knocking me to the floor where we rolled around.

"Once again I'm forgotten," Lily sighed, helping Remus up.

"I'll take you to Hogsmeade," Peter offered. Lily laughed as Remus tackled Peter, claiming that he was taking Lily not Peter. Overhearing their fight, I quickly joined in, which caused Sirius to be dragged into the scuffle too. Soon all four of us were rolling around on the floor.

"I guess that means you're free to go to Hogsmeade with me?" Severus asked McGonagall, conjuring up a red rose for her. Sirius grabbed Severus by the ankle and dragged him into the fake fight while Lily stood with her hands on her hips and glared at the five of us.

"ENOUGH!" McGonagall roared. The laughing students quickly shut up and began leaving the Great Hall in a rush. Brushing dirt off of my robes, I stood up and helped Peter up. Once we were all stood in a row in front of McGonagall she began walking silently towards Dumbledore's office, expecting us to follow.

Dumbledore's eyes were twinkling when we walked into his office, and he didn't look at all surprised to see a furious McGonagall with us. It seemed he had predicted that our way of getting to his office would be a prank.

"Ah," Dumbledore folded his hand onto the desk in front of him. "I was wondering how quickly you would be able to get here. May I inquire as to what prank you performed be sent up here in such a hurry? I wasn't expecting you until at least lunch time to give you some time to make a truely excellent prank."

"Do you mean to say, that you told these Marauders to do a prank, just to be sent to your office!" McGonagall spluttered furiously.

"I do indeed," Dumbledore said with a smile. "For tonight will be a very important night for all six of them."

"Tonight?" McGonagall repeated, paling slightly. "Oh Albus, please tell me these children aren't the new members."

"I'm afraid it seems like these six were never children," Dumbledore sighed sadly. "They will indeed be joining the Order of the Phoenix tonight."

McGonagall opened her mouth, no doubt to complain, but Dumbledore cut her off with a hand gesture and turned instead to where we were sat.

"Now tonight you will tell your class mates you have a detention with Professor McGonagall at 7pm, but instead she will take you to the Headquarters for the Order of the Phoenix. Once there you should expect a lot of protests about your initiation, but I will calm everyone down and then you must tell them the story you told me. I highly doubt there will be any protests after that." Dumbledore explained. "Now, go enjoy your Saturday, I will see you tonight."

We left the office and we could hear McGonagall demanding answers as the doors shut behind us. We joined our class mates briefly in the Common Room to tell them we had detention that night, but then instead of going to Hogsmeade with them, we went into the RoR where we spent the rest of the day just relaxing.

At 7pm we turned up at McGonagall's office as instructed. McGonagall was stood next to her fireplace with a bag of Floo powder in her hand, she gave us a grim nod in greeting; it was clear she still didn't agree with Dumbledore's decision.

"I assume you all know how to use a Floo," she said stiffly, handing us a piece of parchment. "Memorize this, it's your destination but it's under a Fidelius Charm."

I read the words, recognizing Dumbledore's writing, before passing the note to Lily. Once we'd all read the address McGonagall burnt the parchment and handed us a handful of Floo powder.

I stepped into the Floo first, taking my glasses off before saying the address I'd just memorized. The Floo spun me around and spat me out into an empty room. I moved out of the way of the fireplace I'd come out of just in time to see Sirius walk out of the flames gracefully as only a pure-blood could.

Lily came out next and I had to catch her as she wobbled slightly. McGonagall stepped out of the fire last; she told us to stay in the room and then went through the only door in the room. We could hear quiet talking coming from behind the door as it opened, but once it had shut we were left in silence; all of us too nervous to speak.

Eventually, the door re-opened and Dumbledore walked into the room. He didn't say a word, but beckoned for us to follow him into the next room. Swallowing nervously, we looked at each other before following Dumbledore. I was walking in lead with Lily holding my hand tightly.

I counted about twenty people in the room including Dumbledore and my parents and none of them looked happy to see us, even my parents looked a little upset. Dumbledore made us sit down on six chairs that had been placed at the front of the room. Everyone else was sat down at a long table that we were now behind the head of. Dumbledore sat at the head of the table so that his back was to us and I noticed six empty chairs around the table that I guessed were meant for us when we were initiated.

"We are here today to discuss the initiation of Messrs James Potter, Sirius Black, Peter Pettigrew, Remus Lupin, Severus Snape and Miss Lily Evans," Dumbledore announced, standing up from his seat and moving to one side so that we could be see better. "Are there any objections?"

It was a good job Dumbledore had warned us to expect people to protest; the only members who didn't start shouting out their objections were my parents and Dumbledore. Dumbledore let them continue shouting for a few minuets and then pointed his wand at the ceiling, creating a loud bang that caused everyone to jump and then stay quiet.

"I had feared that this would be your reaction," Dumbledore stated. "Now one at a time, what are your objections?"

"They're just children!" One witch called out. "Not even out of Hogwarts yet!"

"May I ask, Hestia, how old you were when you were initiated?" Dumbledore asked calmly, causing the witch to blush.

"We've heard stories about them from every teacher in Hogwarts," another witch started speaking. "They're nothing but pranksters! They probably don't know how to be responsible."

"I do believe this was another argument we had about Messrs Fabian and Gideon Prewett, was it not, Emmeline?" Dumbledore countered. "But do you honestly believe I would bring them here if I did not trust they were responsible?"

"You have too much trust Albus," A scarred man grunted. "That's your problem."

"On the contrary, Alastor, I only trust as much as I should," Dumbledore retorted cheerfully, giving me the impression that the argument was a common one. I realized the scarred man was Alastor Moody; a famous Auror. "Why don't you let them tell you their story, and then we'll see if you have anymore objections."

When no one disagreed, Dumbledore motioned for me to stand up. We'd chosen before hand that I would be the one to tell our story since it had affected me the most recently so my emotions would be more powerful. I gave Lily's hand a squeeze and then let go, I walked so that I was at the head of the table where I guessed Dumbledore normally stood when talking.

"I'm not sure where to start this story," I said nervously, scanning the faces in front of me for some sort of encouragement. I recognized Hagrid, McGonagall, my parents, Aberforth; the owner of the Hogs Head pub, and Fabian and Gideon who'd I'd met at their sister Molly's wedding, but everyone else was a stranger to me.

"I suppose it starts when I was eleven and I started Hogwarts. The first person I met was my best friend Sirius Black, who immediately proved to me that he wasn't like the rest of his family," I looked behind me and smiled at him. "Unfortunately, my next meeting wasn't as good, for the next people to walk into our compartment were Lily Evans and Severus Snape, and if you've heard all about us from our teachers, then you know that from our first meeting we hated each other." Some of the members chuckled, including Hagrid, which gave me a bit of needed encouragement.

"I'm not going to go through all my meetings, but I also befriended Remus Lupin and Peter Pettigrew. In our first year at Hogwarts we built up a reputation of pranksters and eventually claimed the name 'Marauders'. Skipping along to second year," I swallowed nervously, every one of my instincts telling me to keep my friends secret even though I knew I couldn't. "Sirius, Peter and I started to realize something strange was happening to Remus, he would get sick every month and then he'd tell us he was going home to visit his sick mother for a few days but he'd come back to school looking like he'd been attacked."

I could tell people were getting drawn into my story and were beginning to realize the same thing we did all those years ago.

"We were only twelve years old when we found out one of our best friends was a werewolf," I announced calmly, ignoring the quiet gasps. "He had been so scared to tell us because of the prejudice he'd been warned of that when we confronted Remus about it, he promised to leave Hogwarts and never come back if we kept his secret, and begged us not to hate him."

I saw Lily take Remus's hand from the corner and my eye, and noticed that some of the Order members were looking sympathetically at Remus; I hoped that was a good sign.

"Instead of telling him to leave, we told him we wanted to help him in anyway we could," I continued. "We began looking for ways of staying with him on a full moon and learning healing spells and potions to help the best we could. Finally, we stumbled across an Animagus book that told us Animagi were safe from werewolves."

The other members were mumbling to each other now, looking at us with curiosity, I tried to pick my next words carefully because I knew they would need proof to believe me.

"Peter, Sirius and I were fifteen years old when we completed our Animagi training," before they could start protesting I changed into my Animagus form and back again. I looked down to see Padfoot sat at my feet, staring at the Order members as if daring them to call me a liar. "We went with Remus to the Shrieking Shack every full moon and stopped him from hurting himself. Many times we were injured ourselves, I remember one time Sirius broke four of his ribs and I had a large cut in my arm. We couldn't go to Madame Pomfrey because she would ask questions, so we put up with the pain and learnt as much about healing as we could, both muggle and wizard."

My parents had gone pale as I spoke about past injuries, but I focused on a spot above their heads, knowing that if I looked at them while I spoke of recent events I might lose it.

"At the beginning of my seventh year, Lily accidentally came across us on a full moon," I began, causing gasps around the room as people got more caught up in the story. "I changed into my human self to warn her, she escaped and I was bitten. Remus was distraught when he discovered what he'd done, but I never blamed him for it, I don't blame anyone. My friends had to heal me as well as they could, but werewolf bites can't be healed much with magic."

"Lily saw me the next day and asked what had happened; she noticed blood on my robes and found out the whole story. She began training to be an Animagus, and one day she brought Severus with her. After a mistake in my fifth year, Severus knew about Remus, and for the sake of Lily's friendship, agreed to become an Animagus too and join us on a full moon."

Sirius changed back to human and sat down on his seat, instead when I looked down I saw Whisper padding around silently.

"We formed a pack, and made a promise to fight against the dark together," I finished up the story, looking behind me to see that all my friends were now stood next to me in human form.

"If you don't mind, Mr Potter," Alastor Moody leaned forward curiously. "Will you repeat this promise you made?"

I lifted my wand without argument; Dumbledore had asked us to do the same thing so I guessed the promise we'd made must have been important. "On my word as a Marauder and member of this pack I swear to stand against the darkness," I recited, and just like last time all our wands began to glow.

"For those of you who do not know, a werewolf pack is often closer than family and once you're part of the pack there's no leaving, even in death the pack members are connected," Dumbledore said softly, shocking everyone in the room, even us because we hadn't known that we'd be connected even if one of us died. "Are there any more objections to letting these six adults into the Order of the Phoenix?"

No one objected, Dumbledore nodded and waved his wand over us. I felt a strange feeling as if someone had sprinkled a type of powder over my head and then Dumbledore told us to take our seats at the table.

It was done; I held Lily's hand under the table and smiled at my friends around me. We were part of the Order of the Phoenix. We were part of the war. But more importantly, we were part of a pack. We were the Marauders.


	25. The Real World

It had been months since we'd joined the Order of the Phoenix, we were slowly making friends with some of the other members even though they were older than us, and we were getting used to Moody's paranoia. We'd been to every meeting since joining the Order, and McGonagall removed the fake detentions from Lily and Severus's records since Remus, Peter, Sirius and I had wanted to keep the detentions on record.

We'd finished our NEWT's, which were very well named as they were difficult, but we were all sure we'd passed. None of us could believe that our last days of Hogwarts were already there. There would be no more detentions given out, and Sirius and I claimed the most detentions ever given to a student since we both had the same amount of detentions.

On our last morning at Hogwarts I was the first one awake from our dorm room, the trunks were all packed; all our items were mixed up inside and we'd checked that we hadn't forgotten anything. We agreed that we were going to live with Sirius in his house for the summer or until we had our own place to stay in.

I'd already bought a house in a small town called Godric's Hollow and was planning to ask Lily to move in with me at the end of summer. Sirius and I were going to join Auror training, Severus and Lily were going to study to become Potion masters, Peter was going to ask for a job as an Obliviator, and Remus was willing to take anything he could get since he was a registered werewolf and it would be hard for him to get a job in the Wizarding world.

I got dressed quietly, stood in the middle of the room and put a Sonorus charm on my voice.

"CONSTANT VILIGENCE!" I shouted, my amplified voice echoing around the dorm room.

Sirius jumped out of his bed waving his wand around, Peter fell out of his bed in shock, and Remus sat bolt upright in fright. Once they realized it was just me and not Moody, I got three pillows thrown at me.

Laughing, I went down to the Common Room to wait for Lily as they continued getting dressed. Lily was already in the Common Room; she was curled into a chair reading Hogwarts: A History.

"You nearly gave me a heart attack," she murmured once I'd kissed her. "I could hear you from down here and got funny looks from Alice and Frank for pulling my wand out."

"Sorry," I chuckled. "Are you all packed?"

"Yeah," she sighed, closing her book. "I can't believe today is our last day at Hogwarts, it doesn't feel real."

"I know," I agreed, wrapping my arms around her and kissing her on the top of her head. "So much has happened to us this year."

Finally, the other Marauders came down fully dressed and we made our way down to the Great Hall for breakfast. Severus was already sat down at the Gryffindor table; the other Gryffindors had long ago accepted him and when I looked around I noticed a few other students from other houses had mixed as well.

Yellow Hufflepuff banners decorated the Hall; Hufflepuff had been announced as winner for the House cup at the feast the night before. Gryffindor had no chance of winning since we'd lost so many points and Slytherin had lost a fair few too thanks to Severus. Ravenclaw had come in second and Slytherin in third. The other Gryffindors weren't too pleased with coming last, but they knew that once the Marauders were gone they'd have the chance to win the House cup again.

"Are we doing a final prank before we leave?" Peter asked as he sat down next to Severus.

"I thought the prank at last nights feast was our final prank," Severus said dryly, automatically passing Sirius the tray of bacon. "Some of the Hufflepuffs still have antennas."

"Last night was our final prank, today's just for relaxing, no pranks," I smiled happily, grabbing a slice of toast. "Plus we've already cast a lasting prank."

"Do I dare ask?" Lily muttered, taking a spoonful of cereal.

"We've charmed our room so that only the six of us can enter without being pranked," Sirius announced cheerfully. "And only we can remove it too."

"I sincerely hope, Mr Black that you are not talking about your dorm room" McGonagall said as she walked past our part of the table.

"Of course not Professor," Sirius called back innocently.

Lily snorted and stood up from the table, picking up her bag. "I've got to take a book back to the library."

"I'll go with you," I offered, standing up with her. We waved bye to our friends and started walking towards the library.

"I have to go see Professor Slughorn now," Lily said once we'd handed Hogwarts: A History back to Madame Pince; the librarian. "I want to give him a gift."

"Do we have to?" I groaned. "I thought I'd seen the last of him at the Slug Club meeting that you dragged me to."

"It won't take too long," she giggled, taking my hand and leading me to the Potions classroom.

"Pince and Slughorn in one morning," I moaned. "You're trying to kill me."

"Stop being such a baby," Lily laughed, knocking on the Potions classroom door and entering without waiting for an answer. "Professor Slughorn?"

"Lily, James, do come in," Slughorn looked up from his desk. "What can I do for you?"

"I just wanted to give you this, Sir," Lily placed a bowl of water onto his desk. A lily petal was floating on top of the water. Lily waved her wand over the top of the bowl. "Pisces lilium."

The lily petal began to sink in the bowl, but just before it reached the bottom it transformed into a fish. The fish swam around the bowl peacefully and Lily beamed in success.

"Beautiful magic, simply wonderful," Slughorn praised, leaning over the bowl to get a closer look at the fish. "I shall name him Francis I think."

Lily chatted with Slughorn for awhile longer before we managed to make our escape. I dragged her down the corridor, running as if something was chasing us. When we finally found the other Marauders we were still laughing.

"There you are!" Remus exclaimed. "We have to get on the train, it's time to go."

"It's strange to think this will be the last time we sit in the compartment," Peter commented as we sat down in our normal places.

"We could always booby-trap this compartment like we did our dorm," Sirius suggested, taking his wand out of his pocket. "That way this compartment will be for future pranksters only."

"I still can't believe we don't have the Marauders Map," I grumbled. "But at least any prankster worthy of it will steal it back from Filch."

Ignoring Peter's apologies, we began booby-trapping the compartment like we had our dorm room. The train ride seemed to go quickly, we arrived on Platform 9 ¾ too soon.

Taking one last look at the platform and train, we apparated to the steps outside of Sirius's house. We'd gotten our apparating licences before leaving Hogwarts, and an Anti-Apparation ward was one of the protection spells we'd placed on Sirius's house. No one could apparate in, but we could apparate out in case of trouble.

The first thing we did was sort through our trunks so that we all had our own belongings and then put our trunks to our rooms. The guys were going to go to the muggle bar down the street to celebrate graduating, but I told them I wanted to have some alone time with Lily so we could go on a real date.

We apparated to a beach and spent some time paddling in the sea and just walking on the sand. It was different to the other dates we'd had, I felt older and I think Lily did too.

"I bought a house," I blurted out while we were walking. "And I want you to move in with me."

Lily came to a stop next to me and my breath caught in my throat, thinking I'd gone too quickly for her, but her words stopped me before I could apologize.

"I'd love to move in with you, James," she leaned forward and kissed me. "But if I don't like the house you've bought we're going to have to choose somewhere else."

"Deal!" I shouted happily, picking her up and spinning her around. "I'll take you there now."

I apparated to Godric's Hollow and showed her the house I'd bought. Nervously, I unlocked the door and lead her in, it wasn't a mansion by any standards, but it wasn't a cottage either.

"If you don't like it I can buy something else," I said when she hadn't said anything. "If it's too small or big it doesn't matter."

"Oh James," Lily turned to look at me and I noticed there was tears in her eyes. "It's perfect!"

"So we're not moving too fast?" I asked nervously, fiddling with the house keys.

"We're in the middle of a war," Lily stated. "Move too slow and it might never happen."

I kissed her again and then we locked the house and went back to Sirius's house. The guys were already back, and they looked agitated.

"What's wrong?" I asked sharply, the happiness I'd felt earlier dissolving.

Silently, Sirius handed Lily and I an envelope each, I looked around before opening my letter and saw that the others had a letter each too. Carefully, I opened the letter and I felt my blood go cold when I saw what was written, I looked up at Lily and noticed that she'd gone pale.

Mr Potter,

The Dark Lord recognizes greatness when he sees it and he has taken an interest in you and your friends. Pure-blood wizards will always be welcome within our circle. Come to the Little Hangleton graveyard next Tuesday at 11pm.

Instead of a signature, there was a moving picture of a skull with a snake twisting through its mouth.


	26. Fragile Life

We sent a letter off to Dumbledore about the notes we'd received and luckily he replied straight away asking us to come back to Hogwarts that night to make a plan. Any other time I would have been more than happy to go back to Hogwarts, especially since we'd been saying how much we'd miss the school just that morning before boarding the train for what we had thought would be the last time, but it was with heavy hearts that we stepped into the Floo and arrived in the Headmasters office.

"You know, I'd hoped that the next time I stepped into this office would be for a job," Remus commented dryly.

"As did I Remus," Dumbledore sighed, holding his hand for the note. I took my note out of my pocket and the others handed him their copies too.

"I'm surprised that I got a note," Lily said as she placed her letter into Dumbledore's hand. "His goal is to get rid of muggle-borns like me."

"It seems even Voldemort knows what a great witch you are becoming," Dumbledore quickly read through the notes. "Well, I'm going to assume that none of you want to join him."

I blanched at the thought and noticed that the others had done the same. I couldn't imagine any of us willing to join Voldemort, not after everything we'd gone through together; I would trust every member of my pack with my life.

"Of course not," Sirius hissed, his knuckles turning white as he clenched his hands into fists. "We vowed to fight against the dark, not roll over and change sides just because we get an offer."

"This could be an opportunity for us," Severus pointed out, continuing quickly before we could start shouting at him. "I mean that if we could find out information out then we could help the Order. I'd never join him for any other reason."

I saw his eyes glance over to Lily as he said the last it and felt a stab of guilt for being the one that she'd chosen, even if she never considered Severus as an option. Dumbledore took his glasses off and rubbed his eyes. I never realized just how old he really was, but the war was making him look his age.

"You are quite right Severus," he said cautiously. "But I would not ask any of you to do such a thing, and at this moment we have no need for another spy."

"You mean the Order already has a spy in the Death Eaters?" Peter blurted out, blushing when we all turned to look at him.

"We do, but I will not reveal their identity to you at this moment," Dumbledore said sternly. "I will send some Order members to the graveyard Tuesday night and hopefully they'll be able to catch a few Death Eaters."

"Excuse me, Professor Dumbledore," Lily spoke up nervously. "But wouldn't it be better if we went? We are Order members, and we could act like we're going to join them and then surprise attack them."

"You may call me Albus now, you are no longer my student," Dumbledore told us. "And if that is what you wish I will not begrudge you this chance to fight, though please understand the danger. It will be more deadly then the duels you fought at school."

"I don't know, some of our duels got quite deadly," Severus muttered, grinning at Sirius and I.

"If you understand the danger, which of you want to go? Please don't be pressured, other Order members can go in your place under Polyjuice potion if necessary," Dumbledore asked.

"I'll go," Sirius and I said together.

"That decides it then," Peter nodded. "Everyone knows we won't let them go without us." Remus, Severus and Lily agreed.

"Very well, go to the graveyard on Tuesday night, I'll send Alastor, but you won't see him," Dumbledore told us gravely. "I wish you the best of luck."

The days leading up to the Tuesday passed full of anxiousness; none of us left the house except to buy food, and even then we hurried back. I tried once to convince Lily to stay home, but she refused straight away and I didn't try again.

We apparated to the graveyard in silence at 11:10pm; our plan was to make everyone think we weren't going and then go in shooting. Luckily, our apparating point was just next to where the Death Eaters had gathered, so we managed to duck behind a few headstones before we were noticed.

Taking a deep breath, I activated my tattoo and signalled for the others to do the same; I was hoping they might give us an advantage in the fight, we'd used the tattoos often enough that we no longer got dizzy while using them and we'd practised duelling against each other using them as well.

Bursting out from behind the headstones, I started by shooting of stunners and heard that the others were doing the same. We managed to knock down a couple of Death Eaters by taking them by surprise, but as soon as the others noticed what was happening they began fighting back with Unforgivables.

I shot a nasty curse at one of the masked figures and my tattoo warned me of a curse about to hit me from behind. I ducked and rolled out of the way; firing back any spell that came into my mind back in any direction.

A scream pierced the air and I recognized it immediately as Lily's. Spinning around, I searched frantically through the fighting, stunning and cursing everyone that came into my path until I found her. She was withering on the floor under the Cruciatus curse, a masked figure standing over her. Without even thinking about it, I tackled the Death Eater to the ground and hit him in the face, forgetting all about my magic.

Once I was sure the man was knocked unconscious, I stood up and ran over to where Lily was beginning to stand up shakily. Before I managed to get there I was hit by the same curse I'd just saved Lily from.

A scream tore its way out of my throat and I didn't try to stop it; the pain was intense, worse than any transformation I'd had on a full moon. My body felt like it was being chopped into little pieces and boiled alive. White hot knives stabbing into my skull, I felt like I'd do anything to make it stop, I no longer knew who I was, the pain was all consuming.

All of a sudden it stopped. I stayed on the ground just panting, I couldn't move, my body was shaking. It took me awhile to realize that everything had gone silent. I could hear choked sobs coming from someone close to me but I didn't immediately recognize that it was Lily.

Painfully, I dragged myself off the floor and made my way to her side, my head was fuzzy but I knew that I had to protect her. Once I'd reached her I took her hand and squeezed it gently, she wasn't looking at me; her eyes were staring at something behind me.

Dread filling me, I turned around and felt the world begin to tilt around me. Unconscious Death Eaters were scattered around the graveyard, but my eyes focused on the figure standing in front of a grim reaper gave. I recognized Lord Voldemort straight away and my head cleared immediately.

Not too far away from him Peter and Remus were laying on the floor and every part of me wanted to check whether they were still breathing but I knew better than to move. Sirius was sat on the floor in front of Voldemort trying desperately to get up and paying no attention to the fact that Voldemort's wand was pointed almost lazily at him. Severus was no where to be seen.

Sirius was clutching at his leg; blood was pouring out of a wound just under his knee and he looked incredibly pale. A small whine made its way out of my mouth against the wolf inside me realized that two of its pack members could be dead, a third was injured, a fourth was missing and its mate was distressed.

At the sound, Voldemort's head turned to look at me. He walked over to where I was stood with Lily, straight past Sirius as if he was nothing of importance. Sirius followed him with his eyes and then began to try drag himself over to where Remus and Peter were laying.

"Potter," Voldemort hissed, causing me to jerk at his voice. "Is this anyway to treat someone who invited you to a party? By attacking the other guests."

"I never asked for an invitation," I said coldly, pushing Lily behind me.

Voldemort's eyes narrowed as he noticed the action. "I don't want to spill pure-blood, but if you force my hand I will kill you without hesitation. As for you, Miss Evans, I've heard much about you; supposedly the brightest witch of your age," Voldemort raised his wand so that it was pointing at us. "Tell me, if I'm willing to ignore your unworthy blood and the company you keep, will you join me?"

"Never," Lily swore, raising her own wand.

"Do remember that you only have to choices," Voldemort drawled. "Join me, or die."

"Or we could just defeat you" I snarled. "Confringo!"

Voldemort batted away my curse easily and then began attacking us for real. We'd never practised duelling together before, but luckily, Lily and I worked well together. A couple of spells got through; I jumped in front of a Cruciatus curse that was about to hit Lily, but we continued fighting. Before we could get seriously hurt, someone else began firing at Voldemort from behind us.

Instead of staying and continuing the fight, Voldemort shot the killing curse at our helper and then apparated away, a couple of Death Eaters that hadn't interfered with our fight apparated after him.

I turned around and recognized our helper as Alastor Moody, a couple of other Order members were with him, but my head was still spinning from my latest brush with the Cruciatus curse to bother trying to remember their names.

"You're late," I coughed out, wiping away the blood that had dribbled down my chin. My head was beginning to get fuzzier, but I shook away the feeling, wobbling instead to where Sirius was leaning over Peter. "Are they…" I couldn't finish my question.

"They're breathing," Sirius said shortly, taking my wand from my hand and summoning his own that must have been knocked from his hand during the fight. He revived our friends quickly.

"I feel like hell," Remus moaned, standing unsteadily.

"You look it too," Sirius choked on his words, swaying slightly from blood loss. "Where's Severus?"

"I don't know," Remus looked around desperately. "I lost him somewhere in the fight before I was knocked out. What about you Peter?"

"I saw him attacking one of the Death Eaters, but then I had to focus on my fight," Peter pointed to a grave not too far away from the grim reaper grave was. "He was over there when I last saw him."

Lily, the only one of us who was able to move without risk of falling over, made her way over to where he pointed. "Found him! He's alive but his arm's definatly broken," she called out.

Once the other Order members had secured the unconscious Death Eaters, Moody created a port-key for us. Sirius, Remus, Peter, Severus, Lily and I were the only ones that took the port-key. It dropped us into the Hogwarts hospital wing, much to Remus's disgust.

Madame Pomfrey was furious at the state we were all in; the cut on Sirius's leg had cut through to the bone, Remus and Peter had luckily only been stunned, so they only needed headache potions, Severus broke his arm in four places; in the end Madame Pomfrey vanished the bones in his arm and gave him some Skele-Gro to re-grow the bones. Lily was the most fortunate of us; she had a couple of bruises, but apparently we'd all protected her form the worst of it. Predictably, I was the worst off; apparently if the first Cruciatus curse had lasted much longer I would have lost my mind, and the second round damaged my lungs.

I was given a sleeping potion which I downed gladly, Lily promised she wouldn't leave my bedside until she knew I was okay and the other Marauders were worried for me too. I gave them a shaky smile, took Lily's hand in mine and then drifted off.

When I woke up Lily was stood at the end of my bed talking quietly to Remus, Peter was sat reading the Quibbler in the chair next to my bed, Severus was sat on one of the surrounding beds and Sirius was sat next to him. None of them looked injured anymore, which made me wonder how long I'd been out for. I tried to open my mouth to ask, but another round of drowsiness overcame me and I sank back into oblivion.

The next time I came round, only Lily was with me in the Hospital wing; she was curled up on the seat sleeping where Peter had been sat last time I woke up. I noticed that it was dark outside and wondered how long it had been since Lily left my side.

"Lily," I reached out and nudged her gently, causing her to stir awake. "Lily, how long has it been since you slept in a bed?"

"James!" She exclaimed, waking up properly. "I've been so worried!" She stood up and wrapped me into a hug.

"I'm fine," I said once she'd released me. "How long have I been out? How is everyone?"

"You've been asleep for five days and everyone's fine. Oh James, why did you jump in front of that curse?" She looked like she was about to cry.

"I promised myself I'd protect you," I told her softly. "I love you so much."

"I love you too, always, but there's easier ways to prove it," Lily choked out. "I can't loose you."

I pulled her onto the bed with me until she was curled up under the blankets against me. We stayed there for awhile until I thought Lily had fallen back asleep. I stroked her hair away from her face and picked my wand up from the table next to the bed.

"What are you doing?" Lily murmured, looking up at me with wide eyes.

"Marry me," I stared into her eyes, judging her reaction. "I know we're young and haven't been going out long, I can't go down on one knee at the moment and I haven't even got a ring yet, but I promise you Lily, that if you marry me, no one will ever love you more than I will." I waited for her reply, knowing that if she refused it would break me.

Lily waved her wand over the empty glass on the table and it changed into a gold ring with a glass jewel in it, she slipped it onto the third finger of her left hand. "You will have to buy me a proper ring and propose again," tears ran down her face, but she was smiling. "But I think I've always belonged to you."

I kissed her again and then we settled back into the bed, falling back asleep. This time when I woke up, it had only been a few hours. Lily was sat back on the chair instead of in my bed and I realized that it had been the other Marauders walking into the Hospital wing that had woken me up.

"Can you be any noisier?" I asked, surprising them.

"Prongs!" They exclaimed happily, rushing over.

"Thank Merlin you're awake," Sirius sighed, balancing on the arm of Lily's chair. "Lily was getting ready to attack me I swear."

I laughed as Lily pushed Sirius off the chair. "I'll attack you now if you're not careful," she huffed.

"Ow," Sirius winced. "Something just stabbed into me." He stood up off the floor and examined Lily's hand, eyes zoning on to the ring immediately.

Lily blushed a bright red, reaching over to fiddle with the ring, causing everyone else to notice it.

"When did that happen?" Remus asked in shock.

"Last night," Lily announced happily, red still staining her cheeks.

I grinned at the others as they rushed to congratulate us, but I couldn't help but notice the slightly pained look on Severus's face before he hid it and gave Lily a shaky smile.


	27. United Souls

Everything was ready; the invitations had been sent, the dress, cake and anything else needed for a wedding was prepared and done. I'd chosen Sirius as my best man, because he'd been my best friend since I'd met him it wasn't hard to decide and none of the others were offended at not being chosen.

Lily's maid of honour was Alice Prewett and Zoe was her only other bridesmaid. She'd sent an invitation to Petunia asking her to be a bridesmaid, but Petunia and her husband Vernon had refused outright to even go to the wedding. Lily had been heartbroken but cheered up at the thought that her parents would be at the wedding, even if they weren't pleased with her getting married so young.

My parents weren't too happy with me either, but they understood that we didn't want to wait because of the war and they knew how much we loved each other. I was a bit nervous though about seeing Lily's parents; the only time I'd met them was in fifth year when I asked Lily out on the platform before school and got jinxed for my trouble.

Before the wedding though, Lily was being dragged away for her Hen Party with Zoe, Alice, and other girls from Hogwarts. Sirius was more excited about my Stag Night than I was; it was going to be Peter, Sirius, Remus, Severus, Frank (Alice's boyfriend) and I.

"So what are we doing to tonight then?" Frank asked curiously as we left Sirius's house; our place of meeting. Frank looked kind of nervous, but I guessed it was because of all the stories he'd heard about us in Hogwarts.

"Well, if we do things the Muggle way, we're meant to tie James here to something in just his boxers," Sirius dug his elbow into my stomach playfully.

"Try it and die," I threatened, waving my wand at him, laughing at his pouting face and puppy dog eyes.

"We're just going to go get a few drinks," Remus chuckled, reassuring Frank.

"I prefer my idea," Sirius winked, dancing out of the way of my punch.

We ended up in a Wizarding pub hidden away in a corner of Diagon Alley. It was a nice place and Sirius ordered us all shots of Firewhiskey and then bought the bottle too so we wouldn't have to ask for top ups.

"To Prongs and Hart!" Peter cheered as we clinked our drinks together and drank them down in a gulp, coughing as we felt the drink burn down our throats.

"What's the story behind your nicknames?" Frank asked curiously, eyeing Sirius wearily as he topped everyone's glasses up.

"That's a Marauder secret I'm afraid," Remus told him with a grin. "And you're just not cool enough to join us."

"I'm sure he's oh so upset about that," Severus remarked dryly, rolling his eyes and causing us all to start snickering.

"Here's to being single!" Remus toasted, Severus and Peter joining him as he took the shot and Sirius topping the glasses up again.

"Here's to being in love," I countered back, knocking back my drink. Frank, Sirius and Severus drank with me but no one else noticed Severus taking his shot. I was surprised Sirius had drunk; I knew his relationship with Zoe was serious (no pun intended), but I hadn't expected him to love her, I just hoped she felt the same way.

Eventually, our toasts got crazier and we were asked to leave the pub as we got louder. Frank decided it was time for him to go home since he guessed Alice would be back and the rest of us went back to Sirius's.

Lily was just taking her coat off as we entered the house. She rolled her eyes at us when she realized that we were a bit drunk, but she still made sure we were all safely in bed and weren't going to be sick before she went to her own room, claiming we deserved the hangovers we were going to have.

Finally, the day of the wedding arrived. Lily had slept over at Alice's with Zoe the night before since it was tradition that the groom didn't see the bride before the wedding. Lily's mum and my mum had gone over to help the girls while Lily's dad and mine came over to Sirius's house where we were getting ready.

"It's great to meet you," I said as I shook hands with Lily's dad, hiding my nervousness like any good Gryffindor. "Again."

"You better take care of her," he looked at me sharply and then went to go talk to my dad.

Sirius wolf whistled as I stepped out of my room in my tux and I noticed that everyone else was also ready. I pretended to pose and ducked out of the way as someone chucked a pillow at me.

Lily's dad had already gone to meet Lily, and Remus, Peter and Severus left soon after to go to their seats, apparating from the doorstep. We were having the wedding on the grounds of Potter Manor, so Sirius, my dad and I apparated to my old bedroom to wait until it was time for me to go down.

"I'm going to go get in place," Sirius told us. "If I'm late Lily and Zoe will kill me."

"They're not the only ones!" I called after him as he ducked out of the room laughing. My dad stopped me before I could follow after him.

"You know your mother and I are so very proud of you, don't you?" He said softly. "I know it seems like we're upset about you getting married so young, but it's only because we wish you didn't have to. Lily is a lovely girl and anyone can see how much you both love each other."

"Thanks dad," I swallowed thickly and coughing to get rid of my embarrassment. "Lovely girl or not though, she'll murder me if I'm not down there."

Chuckling, my dad agreed and we made our way outside. My dad went to sit next to my mum on the front aisle while I continued up to the alter and took my place next to Sirius, who clapped me on the shoulder with a grin.

I looked out into the crowd and saw some of my family members I hadn't spoken to in years, a few old class mates, and I noticed my mum was already dabbing at her eyes with a tissue. She was sat next to Lily's mum and they both had tears glistening in their eyes.

Remus and Peter caught my eye, giving me a grin and thumbs up happily before turning to where the wizard camera man was filming and making faces at the lens. Severus looked up at me and rolled his eyes as he glanced over at Peter and Remus. I smiled at him and he must have noticed that I was waiting for some sort of sign from him to say he wasn't angry because he gave me a rare smile.

Relieved, I let out a breath I hadn't known I was holding. Sirius asked me a question but the music started playing and I forgot all about Sirius and everyone else. Alice and Zoe walked down the aisle first in cream dresses that had gold ribbon tied around them, they were carrying a bouquet of gold painted roses.

Behind them, Lily glided down the aisle and I think I forgot to breathe. She was wearing a white dress that had silver swirls decorating the bottom of it, she had a bouquet of silver lilies and she was wearing a small silver tiara over her veil.

She smiled at me when she got up to me and her father placed her hand in mine. I noticed that she was blushing slightly, but her eyes were sparkling with happiness and I thought that she'd never been more beautiful than that moment.

I was so busy staring at her that I almost missed the part where I was meant to say 'I do', but we got through it and I thought my heart would burst with joy as I slipped the ring onto her finger, declaring to everyone that she was Lily Potter; my wife.

The crowd went wild as I leant down and kissed her. As we broke apart I told her how much I loved her and then we turned towards the crowd to be congratulated. The wedding changed into the after party seamlessly and I was soon leading Lily to the dance floor, the guests parting for us.

We danced to the music obliviously, hardly noticing as other couples joined us on the dance floor. Eventually the song ended and Severus asked to dance with Lily. I smiled at them dancing together as I spun my mum around the dance floor; Lily had her arms around his neck and Severus had a slight blush on his face. I knew that I should have felt jealous, but I didn't; I knew Lily loved me, and I trusted that Severus would never try to take her away from me.

Hearing the next song come on, I made my way over to Lily and dragged her towards me. She laughed as she heard the beginning notes play, but followed me to the middle of the dance floor.

"I said, are you gonna be my girl?" I sang as I spun her around happily, causing her to giggle. I'd heard the song in fifth year when Sirius had bought his motorbike; it was playing in the Muggle store we'd gone in and I knew right away that it fit Lily and me because of all the times I asked her out.

Finally, we sat down to listen to the speeches. Severus made a quick speech about how he'd been friends with Lily for years and that he was happy for her and hoped we'd be happy together. Remus spoke about how we were both there for him and he hoped we'd be there for each other too now. Peter said his congratulations and then sat back down again, and then it was time to hear the best man speech.

"As the best man," Sirius began. "I get to tell you all about my friend James; I can tell you his most embarrassing moments and his most epic fails. Looking back through all of my memories though, I noticed that in the background was always one person and that, ladies and gentlemen, was none other that Lily Evans." Sirius bowed in Lily's direction. "James's embarrassing moments were when Lily hexed him, and his failures were asking her out and getting turned down repeatedly, causing him to get jinxed again." There was laughter from our class mates. "There's not much I can say, other than that I believe James and Lily are meant for each other. So here's to James and Lily!"

Everybody echoed his toast and raised their glasses. I mouthed 'thank you' at Sirius and he winked at me. Once everybody had quietened down again, I gathered up my courage and stood up, getting everyone's attention.

"I don't have much to say," I grinned, looking down at Lily. "Lily is everything I've always wanted and while I dreamed that one day I'd finally manage to convince her to marry me, I never thought it would happen. I'm the luckiest man in the world and I'm afraid all you other blokes are doomed because I've just married the most beautiful, kind, and perfect girl in the universe."

There was more cheering and cat calls as Lily stood up and through her arms around me to give me a kiss. There were tears running down her face, but I knew they were from happiness. Nothing could have ruined that moment and as I looked out towards my pack, I really did feel blessed.


	28. Resulting Agony

Unlike most couples, we didn't have a honeymoon after our wedding. The main reason that neither of us felt comfortable leaving the other Marauders for a week while the war was still happening and we were such big targets now. Our pack had protested; telling us that we deserved a break, and while I would have loved to just take Lily away and show her how much I loved her, I knew that at that time she wanted to stay and be somewhere where she could fight.

To try give us at least a little honeymoon, we moved into our house in Godric's Hollow and spent a week decorating the house. The other Marauders helped out when they could, but they also tried to give us as much alone time as they could. By the end of the week our house was done and we invited our pack over to celebrate.

According to the other members of the Order of the Phoenix, Voldemort was furious at our refusal to join him and the resulting fight, especially because he lost more than a few Death Eaters. All the Marauders had become major targets and there was a rumour that Voldemort would reward any Death Eater that managed to kill one of us, particularly if it was Lily or I.

Unfortunately, just a few weeks later our spy within the Death Eaters was found out and had to go into hiding, he was found dead within four days with the sign of the Dark Mark above his body. It was a large blow against the Order since it meant we no longer knew where Voldemort would strike next.

"We need a new spy," Edgar Bones sighed after reading in the Prophet that Benjy Fenwick – another Order member – had been murdered in his home. He was the second member to be found dead; Dorcas Meadowes had been the first.

"Oh yeah," Gideon Prewett snorted. "Let's just go get one now shall we? Because it's just that easy."

Gideon and Fabian Prewett were twin brothers who we'd met briefly at their sisters wedding. Molly Weasley nee Prewett wasn't part of the Order because she already had four children to look after. Gideon had a scar down his left cheek after a run in with a Death Eater a few years back, which meant we could identify which twin was which.

"Don't start," Alastor Moody growled as he walked into the room. "We have enough enemies as it is, don't make more."

"Moody's right, we may not have a spy, but at least we can trust each other to watch our backs, the Death Eaters don't trust each other at all," Remus added. "That's one advantage we have that they don't."

"Albus would like you six to stay here for this week," McGonagall spoke up, reading a note that had been flashed in by Fawks; Dumbledore's phoenix. "He believes something might happen this week and you will be the targets."

"This week?" I repeated. It was a full moon that night, I caught Remus's eye and knew he was thinking the same thing as I was. "Does that start tonight?"

"It does indeed," McGonagall said. "I am aware that it is the full moon tonight, but this house has a basement you can use to transform in. Since you've never seen the house from the outside I will inform you that it is close to the size of a mansion and there are enough rooms for you to stay."

"Are you sure this is necessary?" Sirius asked, looking displeased at the thought of hiding from his enemies instead of facing them.

"Positive, but you are not the only ones staying, other Order members occasionally spend the night before a mission," McGonagall assured him. "I myself am staying here tonight."

"Us too," Fabian chimed in, gesturing towards himself and his twin. "Our house had an unfortunate run in with a Death Eater and a blasting curse."

"Then the Death Eater had an unfortunate run in with my wand," Gideon muttered darkly. "We're staying here until we can find somewhere else."

The kitchen led onto the basement, so while we went into the basement, McGonagall and the twins stayed in the kitchen. We'd told them they didn't have to wait for us, but the twins were curious, so they were staying up and doing Order work.

McGonagall had told us she wouldn't be able to sleep anyway knowing what we were doing and wanted to be there in the morning so she could heal us if needed. She'd actually offered to join us, but we weren't sure how our wolves would take to someone not in our pack.

The pain engulfed me like normal and I began screaming, somewhere to the left of me Remus was screaming too but it was lost to me as my body started changing. It wasn't long until I lost the fight against the wolf and my mind was overtaken by pain.

Waking up was painful, but I was beginning to get used to the morning after the full moon pain, though admittedly that didn't make it any less painful. We entered the kitchen and collapsed onto the chairs around the table; I just wanted to climb into a bed and sleep, but I knew I had to get healed up first.

Lily began casting healing charms at my chest and I realized I must have broken a rib. She had a small cut on her right arm but seemed otherwise uninjured. McGonagall handed Remus and I a potion that helped the healing process and then asked Lily what else she could do since Lily was more used to healing us than her.

I noticed briefly, as I walked painfully to my room, that the twins were both very pale and were looking at us with wide eyes; I guessed that they hadn't expected us to get injured or maybe it was the screaming that scared them, I didn't really care, I just wanted to sleep and heal up.

By the end of the week the twins treated us like adults and with respect. McGonagall insisted we call her Minerva since she was no longer our Professor; we were actually closer to her than before now and she too treated us like adults.

Nothing had happened, but we couldn't stay at headquarters any longer; we were beginning to go stir-crazy. Dumbledore warned us to be on alert and to try to stick together. With those words in mind Lily and I were tempted to move back in with Sirius and the others, but decided to stay in our home and add more wards.

In the end, even with all our extra wards and staying together, it was all for nothing. Lily and I went to Hogsmeade to buy a book about wards and protection charms that wasn't available at Diagon Ally; we'd convinced the other Marauders that we didn't need them to come with us since there would be other witches and wizards there.

Everyone was taken by surprise when a Dark Mark was shot into the sky and all of a sudden spells were firing everywhere. People were running in every direction in a panic; a few brave souls stood by Lily and I as we fired back at the black cloaked Death Eaters, but we soon had to fall back since we were outnumbered.

We kept shooting off curses from behind a crumbling wall, but it was apparent that the Death Eaters were after us and no one else. Any witch or wizard that got in the way was killed in a flash of green light until no one dared try to help us.

Refusing to go down without a fight, we kept firing, occasionally hitting one of our enemies and taking them out. Suddenly, the Death Eaters stopped attacking and a silence fell upon the village; I recognized the feeling of unease immediately and took Lily's hand in mine. Sure enough, Voldemort walked through his Death Eaters until we were facing him for the second time.

"You should not have defied me," Voldemort hissed, his eyes flashing red. I remembered the last time we'd faced him and we'd only managed to get away with our lives because the Order had been watching, but there was no Order to save us and I prayed to anyone who'd listen that Lily would get away.

"Aw, but it's so much fun," I whined sarcastically, refusing to let him see just how scared I was. The pain of the Cruciatus curse hit me the second the words left my mouth and I heard Lily crying for him to stop.

"Are you ready to die?" Voldemort asked with sadistic glee. "No one escapes Lord Voldemort."

"I think talking about yourself in third person is a sign of insanity," Lily commented, glaring at him daringly. I grabbed her hand tighter and pushed her behind me to protect her from the Unforgiveable that hit me instead.

Unwilling to wait and see if he was going to torture us again or just kill us, I shot a bone breaking curse at Voldemort and then cast a shield around Lily and I. Lily followed my lead and began firing every spell she could think of in the direction of Voldemort and his Death Eaters as we slowly retreated.

I dragged Lily into Honeydukes, shielding her eyes as I shot a blinding light towards Voldemort. While he was distracted, we ducked into the secret passageway that led to Hogwarts. We went straight to Dumbledore's office, ignoring the looks we were getting off the students.

Dumbledore was surprised to see us; he'd sent some Order members to Hogsmeade to help but they hadn't been able to get to us and Dumbledore himself couldn't leave the Hogwarts students defenceless in the castle. He sent us up to the Hospital wing and I was given a potion to help with the after effects of the Cruciatus curse.

The other Marauders met us at Godric's Hollow; they ended up staying the night because they were so worried about us. Apparently, they could feel through the 'pack link' that we were in trouble and possibly injured, but they couldn't pick up anything else.

"I can't believe you insulted him," Peter breathed, eyes wide. "Twice."

"We couldn't let him see our fear," Lily said softly, sitting down on the arm of my chair and leaning into me. "If we were going to die, we were going to go down fighting with every breath we had."

"Don't talk like that," Severus commanded in a choked voice. "You didn't die, and I don't like to think of it even being a possibility."

"Me neither," Remus and Sirius echoed, looking pale.

"Look on the bright side," Sirius said with a forced smile. "Not many people can say they've defied Voldemort twice and lived."

The consequence of surviving became apparent a few minuets later when a ringing noise filled the house; Lily had insisted on having a Muggle telephone in Sirius's house and our house, so no one was too startled by the noise.

Lily got up with a small frown on her face and picked up the phone. Within the space of a few seconds her skin paled, any emotion other than sorrow left her face and tears began to leak from her eyes as the phone slipped from her hand and hit the ground. Ignoring me as I tried to hug her and find out what was wrong; she wrapped her arms around herself and gazed at me numbly.

"My parents are dead," her voice was devoid of all emotion, as if she'd just shut down. "The Dark Mark was above the house and the Muggle police have been obliviated. Petunia was the one who informed me. My parents are dead."

Her voice broke and she collapsed into my arms sobbing.


	29. Placed Blame

I'd never seen Lily looking so broken; she threw herself into organizing a funeral for her parents and sorting out everything that needed to be done. All through the day she would work herself to exhaustion, but as she curled up against me at night I would feel her break and tears soak our skin.

Petunia had been strangely silent; she hadn't made any effort to talk to Lily again after informing her of their parents' death and all phone calls from Lily were ignored. I hoped for Lily's sake that Petunia would go to the funeral; I didn't think she could take any more sadness.

The funeral was a week after Lily's parents' death, all the Marauders bought some formal black muggle suits to show support and none of us complained once about how uncomfortable they were. Zoe, Alice and Frank also dressed in their muggle clothing and came to show support.

Many people came to the funeral, but all of them except our group were Muggles. I stood with Lily as she and Petunia thanked people for coming and received their condolences. Petunia and Lily didn't speak during the service or after.

Once the bodies were in the ground and people began to leave, Lily and I finally managed to catch Petunia to talk to her, she was stood by the grave with her husband; Vernon. We told the others to go home and that we'd see them later, the other Marauders looked reluctant but they knew it was for the best and would give Lily some time to properly mourn her parents.

"Petunia," Lily whispered in a choked voice, reaching out to embrace her sister and share their grief. Petunia moved away and glared at her, cruelly slapping away Lily's arms.

"Don't. Don't you dare try to comfort me!" She hissed. "This is all your fault! You brought your freakiness into our lives and now my parents are dead!"

"They were my parents too," Lily sobbed, looking devastated. "It's not my fault."

"My child will never get to meet his grandparents," Petunia put her hands around her stomach protectively as if Lily was going to attack. "But you can be sure that I will tell him that it's your fault."

"You're pregnant," Lily's voice was hollow but her face showed her shock. "I'm going to be an aunt?"

"You will never meet my son!" Petunia shrieked. "You are not my sister! My last remaining family is dead. I never want to see or hear of you again! If you dare try to contact any of us again I will call the police for harassment."

Without another word Petunia turned around and stalked towards her car with Vernon following her, muttering something about freaks and a job interview at a place called Grunnings. They ignored Lily's cries for her sister and drove away as Lily collapsed onto the floor and began to sob against the grave.

"Come on Lily," I said quietly, tugging her up off the ground and into my arms. "Why don't we go home?"

When she didn't answer I checked around and apparated back to Godric's Hollow. I held Lily in my arms and pulled her onto the couch as she began to cry again.

"Is she right?" Lily hiccupped once her tears had finished. "Is it my fault?"

"No," I assured her immediately. "No, Lily, it's not your fault. Petunia is just emotional at the moment and needs someone to blame. If it's anyone's fault then it's mine for not thinking that your parents would be in danger."

"I don't blame you, James," Lily curled up tighter against me and closed her eyes sleepily. "But can we organize some protection for Petunia and my nephew?"

With a small yawn, Lily fell into the embrace of sleep. I waited until I was sure she'd entered a deep sleep before I picked her up and put her into our bed. Finding a piece of spare parchment and a quill, I left a quick note telling her that I'd gone to Sirius's house and that I'd added some extra wards to the house.

Sirius, Remus, Peter and Severus were waiting for me when I entered the house. Without saying anything Sirius handed me a butterbeer and made space for me to collapse onto the couch as he sat on the floor instead.

"How's Lily?" Severus asked quietly, taking a sip of his own butterbeer.

"Asleep for now," I sighed sadly. "Petunia blames Lily for their parents' death."

"What!" Remus yelped. "How can she blame Lily?"

"I don't know," I shook my head. "But Lily wants me to talk to the Order and organize some protection for Petunia and her nephew."

"Petunia's pregnant?" Peter asked with wide eyes. "That's just wrong on so many levels."

I snorted, the first sign of laughter that I'd done all week. "The difficult part will be protecting them without letting them know we're doing it."

"We'll figure it out, James." Sirius assured me. "Why don't you go home and get some sleep? You look like an inferi."

"Thank you for that lovely comparison Padfoot," I said dryly.

"He's right though, no matter how much it pains me to say it," Severus smiled. "We'll sort everything out, go home and sleep."

"Thanks guys," I gave them a small wave and then apparated home.

Lily was still asleep when I arrived, so I added a few more wards to the house, threw the note into the fire, and then climbed into the bed with Lily. Almost automatically Lily moved closer towards me and rested her head onto my shoulder as she slept; I smiled at the show of unconscious trust.

True to their word, the other Marauders arranged for the Dursley's to have guards, though they assured us that it wasn't too hard to do since everyone wanted to do something for Lily. It seemed that the Order had changed their opinion of us and many of them were now our friends.

A new member joined the Order and we were all introduced to him at the next Order meeting. He apparently had had the luck of fighting Death Eaters not too far away from Petunia's house and was overheard by the guards. He would surely have died if it hadn't been for Gideon and Fabian; the members assigned to guarding the Dursley family that night.

Edward Dean Cornfoot(*); the new member, was a pureblood wizard who'd recently left his pregnant muggle wife to protect her from Death Eaters that wanted to recruit him. Apparently his wife still doesn't know that he's a wizard but promised him that she'd name their child 'Dean' after his father. Edward also had a sister and a nephew called Stephen but he dropped all contact with them as well to protect them.

"One day, when this war is over, I'll go back and tell her everything," Edward told us when we spoke to him after the meeting. "Unless, of course, she moves on and marries someone else."

Lily was very moved by his story and spent most of her time talking to him after the meeting while the rest of us spoke to Dumbledore about future missions and the guard schedule for not only the Dursley's, but other muggle families that might be in danger too.

Unfortunately, all the talk about family put Sirius in a depressed mood, until, that is, Zoe snapped at him to just write to his brother if he was that bothered about him. It surprised everyone that he didn't snap back at her but actually followed her advice and sent Regulus a letter.

Even though Regulus didn't write back, Sirius seemed much happier for at least trying to reach his brother and began writing letters every week and sending them. When we asked him about it he just said that even if Regulus wasn't reading them that it made him feel better to believe he was.

Eventually, Lily began to come out of her shell again and she started to smile more often and laugh with the other Marauders, she seemed to at last be getting over her grief.

Zoe also joined the Order, after finally cornering Sirius one night and shouting that if he was fighting against Voldemort then why couldn't she and that she had every right to be involved in the war as well. Alice and Zoe soon became much closer and were seen talking to each other at every Order meeting.

"I think she really is the girl I'm going to spend my life with," Sirius commented to me one day when it was just the original Marauders gathered at his house. "I never thought I'd find someone like her."

"Am I hearing right? The mighty womanizer Sirius Black has been tamed?" Remus teased with fake shock.

"It must be the end of the world," Peter added dramatically. "Next thing you know James will have married Lily and we'll be friends with Snape!"

We all laughed at him and began to go through our old prank books. It was nice to talk about our old days in Hogwarts and even though we'd happily welcomed Lily and Severus into our group, it was nice to meet up just us four every so often.

"How long has it been since we pulled a prank?" Sirius asked.

"Not since we left Hogwarts," I said mournfully. "There's been no time because of this war."

"I never thought we'd be able to go this long without pranking someone," Remus commented idly. "We used to prank someone everyday."

"Guess this means we've really grown up then?" Peter asked sadly. "It's strange that we didn't even realize it."

"Not everything's changed Pete," I spoke up. "We're still the Marauders."

"Yeah!" Sirius cheered enthusiastically. "And once this war's over we'll start the worlds biggest prank war!"

"We could do it against the Order," Peter added, grinning wildly.

Remus snickered. "I'd love to see Moody's face if we started a prank war against him!"

"He'd skin us alive!" I gasped through my laughter.

As we organized the details for a prank war that would probably never happen, I leaned more comfortably against the couch from my place on the floor and took another drink of my butterbeer. It was good every once and awhile to forget that there was a war going on and just have fun.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (*) In case anyone's wondering, Edward Dean Cornfoot is Dean Thomas's dad, I made up the name but if you look it up, Deans' dad was a wizard and Cornfoot is a pure blood name. In the canon version he dies for refusing to join the Death Eaters.


	30. New Endings

Lily woke me up as she jumped out of bed and made straight for the toilet; she got there just as she began to be sick. Cringing slightly, at got out of bed and held her hair away from her face.

"Food poisoning," Lily moaned when she'd finished being sick. Pushing me out of the way gently, she stood in front of the sink and picked her toothbrush up.

"Did you go to a Muggle restaurant yesterday?" I asked curiously.

Lily and Zoe had gone out the night before, saying that they needed some 'girl time' to catch up. Food poisoning was practically non-existent in the Wizarding world thanks to House Elves and spells, so I assumed they'd gone to the Muggle world for their night out.

"Yeah," Lily answered weakly rinsing her mouth out. "I won't be doing that again."

The doorbell rang before I could continue our conversation, and since Lily was only wearing a pair of shorts and a vest top, I decided to answer the door, pulling on a white t-shirt and a pair of jeans as I walked down the stairs.

Zoe stood outside and smiled at me happily once I'd sorted the wards out so she could enter.

"Good morning!" She grinned. "Is Lily still in bed?"

"No, she's just in the bathroom. It seems whatever Muggle restaurant you went to last night the food didn't agree with her," I shrugged and shut the door behind her.

A brief look of confusion passed over her face before she nodded and started walking up the stairs towards the bedroom.

"Lucky I didn't eat the same thing," she murmured.

I made a sound of agreement and went into the kitchen to get some cereal. I was just charming my bowl to wash itself when I heard a happy squeal come from upstairs. Curious, I followed the noise and knocked on the bedroom door before entering.

Lily and Zoe were sat on the bed cross-legged facing each other. They looked up when I entered the room and I noticed that while Zoe was grinning like a maniac, Lily was blushing and her smile was both nervous and happy.

"James!" Zoe jumped off the bed and ran over to me. "Why don't you go visit Sirius? I can look after Lily for today."

Not giving me the chance to reply, she pushed me out of the door and handed me a pair of Sirius's house keys. Taking a hint, I looked over Zoe's head to see if Lily was okay with me leaving.

"It's fine, James," Lily smiled softly. "I'm already feeling better."

"Great! Bye James!" Zoe slammed the bedroom door in my face. "And don't come back for a few hours!"

Ignoring the fact that I'd just been kicked out of my own home, I left the house, checked the wards, and then apparated to Sirius's house.

"Prongs!" Sirius exclaimed when he opened the door. "What are you doing here?"

"Your girlfriend kicked me out of my own home," I said dryly, entering the house. "Where are Wormtail, Moony and Whisper?"

"Moony and Wormtail are at Headquarters with Edward," Sirius handed me a cup of coffee and perched on the arm of the couch I was sat in. "And Whisper's in the shower."

I nodded and took a sip of my coffee, burning my tongue in the process. Sirius snickered at me when I scolded the roof of my mouth. Taking care not to spill my drink, I pushed him off of the couch and placed my cup on the coffee table.

"Why's Padfoot on the floor?" Severus asked as he walked into the room, sounding as if he didn't really care. "And what are you doing here, Prongs?"

I rolled my eyes at the fact that both Sirius and Severus had asked me the same question instead of actually greeting me. "With a welcome like that, why wouldn't I be here?"

"Zoe kicked him out of his house," Sirius informed him, picking himself up off the floor and collapsing into the seat next to Severus, casually putting his feet onto Severus's lap.

"Move them or I'll remove them," Severus glared at Sirius's feet, pointing his wand at them threateningly. "How did she get you out of your own home?"

"She slammed the door in my face," I answered dryly. "Apparently Lily and her didn't have enough girl time yesterday."

"Weren't you meant to be visiting your parents today?" Sirius asked, moving his feet quickly when sparks began to come out of Severus's wand.

"Yeah, but we can go tomorrow," I shrugged. "Lily woke up with food poisoning."

"Is she okay?" Severus demanded.

"She's fine," I soothed him. "She was already feeling better when I left and Zoe promised to look after her."

Fortunately, a distraction came in the form of the morning post before things could get awkward. Severus and I got our usual Daily Prophet newspapers and Sirius got a black envelope that had a red wax seal and Sirius's full name written with white ink on the front.

Sirius starred at the letter. His face was blank but his eyes betrayed the emotions he was feeling; joy, confusion and nerves. His hands shook as he ran his fingers over the wax seal.

"It's the Black family seal," he said in a quiet voice that shook with nerves. "And it's Regulus's handwriting on the front."

I caught Severus's eye and jerked my head towards the door; he nodded in understanding and stood up, clapping his on Sirius's shoulder before leaving the house. Two minuets later the Floo lit up and Lily stumbled into the living room.

"Severus sent me over," Lily explained when she saw my confusion. "He thought I might be able to help."

"Do you want us to go?" I asked Sirius cautiously.

"No," Sirius shook his head. "If it's bad news then I don't want to be alone."

Carefully, Sirius opened the letter and read it. The silence in the room was thick and it seemed as if Lily was waiting for Sirius to be the first one to say something, just like I was.

Eventually Sirius looked up and caught my eye. His eyes were filled with unshed tears and pure hatred. Before I could ask what was wrong he threw the letter onto the table in front of me and stood up from the table, grabbing his wand.

"I'm going to kill him!" He snarled, the anger in his voice made me flinch as he stormed out of the front door and apparating away before we could stop him.

I picked up the letter, hoping to find some clues as to where Sirius was going and who he was going to kill. I had no doubts that he really would kill someone; the hatred I'd seen in his eyes was extreme.

Dear Sirius Orion Black, my brother,

I got all of your letters and I can't say how much it meant to me that you told me about your life and continued to write even though I didn't reply.

Zoe sounds like a great girl and I hope one day she'll be my sister-in-law if you really do love her, even if I'll never meet her.

I ordered Kreacher to send you this letter once he got back from our mission. I have so much to explain, but I should probably start by saying that if you're reading this then I'm no longer alive.

Don't mourn my death though, I sacrificed myself for the greater good and I hope you can be proud of me.

I tried to leave the Death Eaters, joining them was the biggest mistake I ever made and I wish more than anything that I had listened to you, but if I had I would never have been able to pass on all this information.

Voldemort has split his soul; he's created a Horcrux, I don't know if he's made more than one, but Kreacher has one of them and I've ordered him to destroy it.

You can ask him for the full story, because I'm running out of parchment and I still have more to say.

Voldemort is organizing an attack on Ottery St. Catchpole, it will happen this morning so I hope this gets to you in time to alert Dumbledore. Voldemort himself will be there.

I hope I've made up for my mistakes and I hope you can forgive me.

From your little brother, Regulus Arcturus Black.

I looked up at Lily with horror, tears gathering in my own eyes. "He's gone after Voldemort!"


	31. Family Complications

Everything seemed to be going too fast for me to catch up. One minuet I was handing the letter to Lily and the next we were both stood on a street in Ottery St. Catchpole.

We'd left the letter on the table and since Severus was due home soon I knew he'd find it and know to inform Dumbledore and the Order; something we should have done, but Sirius was already here and we couldn't just leave him to fight alone when he was grieving for his brother.

I was acting on pure instinct as I moved through the screaming crowds; hexing Death Eaters that got in my way and shooting off shields to protect the Muggles that didn't understand that they had to duck the spells coming at them.

Everything inside me was screaming to find Sirius; it seemed my Inner Wolf knew that his pack member was in danger and that he wasn't thinking straight, but all I could concentrate on was protecting Lily as we got closer to where most of the Death Eaters were gathered in a circle.

I was barely aware that I'd activated my tattoos to warn me of anything happening behind me and I saw Lily's Doe tattoo running up her arm to rest on her shoulder, so I knew she'd done the same.

"Stay here," I growled at her. "I have to see if Sirius is over there." I jerked my head towards the circle of Death Eaters.

"I'm coming with you," Lily argued, jutting her chin up stubbornly, but I could see the fear and worry in her eyes; she wanted to find Sirius just as much as I did.

"Stay behind me," I ordered, knowing that we didn't have time to argue

I sent a strong curse at the Death Eaters to knock them aside and then, putting up my strongest shield to cover Lily and I, I dashed forward into the circle.

Sirius was stood facing Voldemort, he was swaying on his feet and had blood flowing from a cut on his head, but he held his wand pointed at Voldemort and his eyes were hard.

As we entered the circle a spell was thrown at Sirius and he fell down, not getting back up. I heard a ringing in my ears and I could hear Lily screaming behind me. She ran forward and began trying to wake Sirius as I faced Voldemort.

"James Potter," Voldemort hissed. "You won't get away from me this time."

I stayed silent, shooting spell after spell at him. At some point I realized that Lily had joined the duel as well, but we still didn't seem to be getting any closer to winning and I began to fear that I'd led Lily to her death because even if we could defeat Voldemort, we were surrounded by Death Eaters.

The Death Eaters, however, were slowly falling around us and I noticed that all of them were involved in their own duels with Order members that must have just arrived.

Thankfully, just as my shield was beginning to weaken, Dumbledore arrived and engaged Voldemort in a duel. Lily and I turned around and began to knock out as many Death Eaters as we could, always staying close to where Sirius was still vulnerable on the floor.

Suddenly, Lily screamed out from her place behind me and I swung my body around just in time to see Gideon Prewett fighting desperately against five Death Eaters. His brother, Fabian, was lying on the floor behind him; his eyes were staring lifelessly up at the sky and Gideon had tears falling down his cheeks as he fought.

I lifted my wand towards them and began to shoot off curses, but I was too far away to make a big difference. Desperately, I tried to get to them. Gideon managed to knock three of them down but as he turned towards the final two the Death Eater I recognized as Antonin Dolohov fired the killing curse at him.

The green engulfed Gideon and I heard Lily cry out with grief for the brothers. Even though I knew I was too late, I continued my fight towards the last two Death Eaters. When I finally got there I cursed both of them and stunned them, moving them away from the fallen twins.

Soon after that the fight died down and the remaining Death Eaters, including Voldemort, apparated away, leaving those who were captured behind. The Order mourned for the loss of Fabian and Gideon, Dumbledore went to tell their sister, Molly, the news while the rest of us were told to go home and be with our families.

Once Sirius was revived we apparated to mine and Lily's house in Godrics Hollow, Remus supported Sirius in a side-along Apparation and we all healed each other at the house, having had much experience in healing thanks to the full moons.

"Are you okay?" Peter asked Sirius softly, his eyes flickering to where Sirius was gripping the letter Regulus had sent him in his hand. Severus had thought of taking the letter with him and had handed it to Sirius once we were at Godrics Hollow.

"He was my brother," Sirius said in a hollow voice. "I just want to know what happened to him."

"Who's Kreacher?" Lily asked. "The letter says he's involved, maybe he can tell you what happened."

"He's the family House-Elf," Sirius muttered. "He lives at the Black house, I can take you there since I now own it. My parents gave it to Regulus when they died, but since they never properly disowned me then it belongs to me if Regulus is dead."

He took us to a group of houses in London where the two houses next to each other were eleven and thirteen with no twelve between them like there should have been.

"My dad put so many charms on the house that you have to know where it is to see it, a bit like the Fidelius Charm but less powerful. The address is 12 Grimmauld Place; The Noble and Most Ancient House of Black," Sirius chuckled darkly. "And black it is. I'll warn you now that there are a lot of Dark objects inside."

I blinked a few times as a house I hadn't seen before appeared as if it had always been there. Sirius opened the front door and I realized immediately what he meant; the whole house felt as if it was seeped in Dark Magic and the air had a sense of danger and illegalness in it.

"Try to be quiet," Sirius whispered and then groaned as Peter tripped over a Troll-leg umbrella stand.

We discovered the reason behind his groan as a portrait at the end of the hall woke up, took one look at us and began to scream about 'filth and blood-traitors' entering 'her pure noble house'.

"Shut up you old hag!" Sirius roared, waving his wand and watching with satisfaction as a curtain appeared over the portrait and silenced it. He walked into the kitchen and we followed quietly.

"Who was that?" Severus asked curiously, sneering at the covered portrait. "She was dreadful."

"My lovely old mother," Sirius smiled bitterly. "She stuck her portrait to the wall with a Permanent Sticking charm."

"That was your mum!" Lily exclaimed with shock. "She's awful!"

Sirius waved off her concern and instead looked around the kitchen. While the house was definatly the home for Dark wizards, it still seemed to be in good order; a little dusty, but nothing too bad.

"Kreacher!" Sirius shouted into the silence of the house, waking the portrait up. As Remus cast another silencing charm at Sirius's mother, an old House-Elf popped into the kitchen in front of Sirius.

"Master Sirius has returned," the Elf croaked. "And he brings mudbloods, blood-traitors and filthy half-breeds with him."

"I forbid you to use any of those words again," Sirius ordered coldly. "I received Regulus's letter and I command you to tell me what happened."

Kreacher chocked a little as he tried to resist the order and then, slowly as if it injured him, he began his tale. He told us about Voldemort needing a House-Elf and that Kreacher had gone with him to hide a locket and then gone back again with Regulus, taking the locket and leaving Regulus there even though he didn't want to.

"Where is the locket now?" Lily asked with pity in her voice.

"The mudblood speaks to Kreacher," Kreacher muttered, eyes wide as he backed away and then immediately began to hit himself with a pan that was on the side in the kitchen.

"Answer her question!" Sirius commanded once he'd finished punishing himself.

"Kreacher tried to follow Master Regulus's orders, but Kreacher could not destroy the locket. Kreacher failed his orders!" Kreacher wailed, raising the pan to hit himself again.

"Stop hurting yourself and bring me the locket," Sirius said emotionlessly.

Kreacher skulked out of the kitchen and then came back in a few minuets later holding a silver locket that had an 'S' engraved into it. He unwillingly handed it to Sirius, hatred in his eyes.

"We're going to destroy it," Remus informed the Elf. "We're going to honour Master Regulus's orders."

"Master Regulus was a good son, unlike Master Sirius who brings filth into the pure and noble house of Black!" Kreacher groaned, eyeing the locket.

"Let's just get out of here," Sirius muttered, holding the locket tightly.

On our way out Lily stopped and turned to look at a tapestry on the wall. "Toujour Pur," she read out loud.

"It means 'Always Pure'," Sirius told her. "It's the Black family motto."

"What does this mean?" Remus asked, pointing to a Latin phrase above a different tapestry of the Black family tree.

"En stirps nobilis et gens antiquissima Black," Sirius read the phrase perfectly even though it was in Latin; it seemed like he'd been taught to repeat it. "Behold the offspring of noble birth and the nation of the most ancient of Black."

"So this is the Black family tree?" Peter looked up at it curiously. "What are the black marks?"

"They're people who have been blasted-off the tree and therefore basically disowned," Sirius pointed at one of the black burnt marks. "There's where I was."

I leaned in and noticed that under the burn mark Sirius's name was written with the year of his birth. I assumed that like most magical family trees that the tree added in dates and updated itself when it needed to.

"Isla Black; blasted-off because she married the Muggle Bob Hitchens," Sirius pointed towards the black marks as he told us why they were blasted-off. "Phineas Black; Muggle rights supporter. Marius Black; Squib. Cedrella Black; married the blood traitor Septimus Weasley. Andromeda Black, my favourite cousin, she married Muggle-Born Ted Tonks. Sirius Black, your very own Padfoot, because I'm a blood-traitor. Alphard Black, my favourite uncle, he was blasted-off because he supported me."

"That's awful," Lily whispered once he'd finished. "How did you manage to grow up here and not end up insane?"

"Haven't you figured it out, Lils? I am insane, I just hide it well," he smiled at her but his eyes were completely serious.

Silently, we walked out into the street and watched as the house disappeared from our view until we looked for it again. Sirius swore to never enter the house again and silently we all agreed with him.

"What are we going to do with the locket?" I asked. "If it's connected to Voldemort then it needs to be destroyed."

"First we'll learn everything we can about Horcruxes," Remus said decidedly. "If we know more about them we can learn how to destroy them."

We agreed and Sirius said that he'd put the locket in the attic of his house since we used the basement on full moons.

Finally though, Lily and I entered our home at Godrics Hollow and sat on the bed just looking at each other. The day had gone so quickly and so much had happened, I wondered when Gideon and Fabian's funeral would be.

"I'm so glad I have you," I told Lily solemnly. "I don't know what I'd do without you."

Lily fidgeted with her hands nervously. "James," she hesitated. "James, have you ever thought about having children?"

I blinked a few times at her, not quite understanding why she was asking me, but I thought about it for a few minuets. I was only twenty years old, but I loved Lily more than anything in the world and I knew I'd love to have children one day.

"I never really thought about it," I admitted. "Things have just been so hectic since we left Hogwarts. But I do want children with you, I really do, though I'll understand if you don't."

Lily breathed out deeply. "James, I'm pregnant."

My world froze for a second and then fireworks began to go off inside my head. Lily was pregnant. Lily was going to have my child. I was going to be a father.

"I want to keep it," Lily looked down at her hands and avoided glancing up at me. "Please say something."

"I love you," I breathed. "I love you and I love our child; our family. We're going to have a child Lily."

Lily starred into my eyes and reached over to hold my hands. "It's going to be hard, the timing is rubbish."

"It would be hard no matter what, but we have to tell the Order; you can't go on missions," I thought out loud. "You can't risk our child."

She curled up next to me as we lay down to sleep and I put my hands over her stomach protectively. She was right that the timing was going to make everything more difficult, but at that moment I just wanted to bask in the feeling that I was going to be a father and that I was going to have my own family.


	32. Controlling Hurt

"And now, before I conclude this meeting," Dumbledore said at the next Order meeting. "I have the great delight of announcing that Lily Potter and Alice Longbottom are both expecting new members of their families."

I saw Lily turn to look at Alice in shock and then immediately hugged her.

"Oh, Alice! I didn't know you were pregnant too!" Lily gushed, smiling up at Frank; Alice's new husband. "Our children will get to grow up together!"

"I'm so glad you're pregnant too, Lily," Alice hugged her back. "We can go through it together."

The rest of the Order gave their congratulations and Zoe; Sirius's long-term girlfriend, engulfed both Lily and Alice in a giant hug.

"That's four able fighters down now," I heard Moody muttering to Aberforth. "War is not the time to start families."

"It's better to start a family now then die and not start one at all," I spoke up. My voice seemed to echo weirdly around the room. "Haven't you ever heard the quote 'Live like there's no tomorrow'?"

"Aye," Moody grunted, turning to look me in the eye. The room was silent now and everyone was looking at us. "But your wife can't fight now because the child would be in danger and you can't fight the big stuff because you have a family to think of. And the same goes for Longbottom."

"There's nothing stopping me fighting," I said in a cold voice.

"No? So what happens if you die then?" Moody's question filled the room and Lily flinched, moving closer towards me. "It's a possibility. This is war! Not some playground duel! Anyone of us could die at any moment. But would you really put yourself at risk, knowing that you could leave a child fatherless?"

"Edward has a son," I protested weakly, trying to ignore the truth of his words.

"He left his family to protect them, as far as they know he's already dead!" Edward winced but didn't deny Moody's statement. "You and Longbottom are liabilities; when out in the field Order members will automatically try to make sure you don't get hurt, so that you can go home and see your family."

I stared at him silently and he took it as his cue to leave. Lily walked up to me and put her hand in mine, pulling me towards the Floo so that we could go home.

"I can't stop fighting, Lily," I told her truthfully once we were sat in the kitchen. "I can't."

"I know," her voice sounded strained. "And it's going to be hard not being there with you, but I know our pack will protect you."

"Speaking of pack…" I grinned at her, walking towards the front door. I'd felt the wards let someone in and only my pack and Zoe were programmed into the wards. I flung the door open to let everyone in and then stopped in shock.

Severus, Peter, Remus and Zoe all entered the house silently, automatically going to find Lily in the kitchen. Each one of them looked at me as they passed with a mixture of sadness and pity; it was the same look they'd given Lily when her parents had died. I looked up at Sirius; the only one to remain on the doorstep in front of me. He had tears falling off his cheeks and his eyes were red.

"What happened?" I demanded, ignoring the horrible sinking feeling in my stomach.

"I'm sorry, James," Sirius whispered. "Voldemort went after them. They're dead."

"Who's dead?" I stammered, shaking my head in denial. "Who's dead, Sirius!?"

"Your parents," Sirius reached for me as I stumbled and hugged me. I knew Sirius thought of my parents as his own and I couldn't deny the fact that they were dead any longer.

Sometime later – I don't know how much time passed while Sirius and I stood in front of the open door – Lily came out of the kitchen to us. She had tears running freely down her face and she took one look at us before leading us both to the living room where the other Marauders were.

Severus handed us both a potion which I downed without thinking about it, noticing that it was a Pepper-Up potion when my body warmed up and smoke began to billow out of my ears.

"It was for revenge," I didn't need to say it like a question; I already knew what I said was true. My voice sounded croaky and I had to clear it a few times before speaking again. "He killed them because I managed to escape with my life again."

Remus nodded sadly. "He did. I'm so sorry, James, and for you too, Sirius."

"Promise me, that one day we'll stop him," Sirius rasped out. "Promise me that one day we'll kill him."

"We will," I said solemnly. "We will because I won't stop until he's dead."

Lily shifted uncomfortably but stayed silent. Severus nodded in agreement with Sirius and I while Peter looked just as uncomfortable as Lily.

"Just remember revenge is what caused this," Remus murmured.

"So what?" I snapped at him. "Should we just sit back and let him keep killing?"

"I never said that, James," Remus's eyes went hard. "And if you were thinking clearly you'd know that. I'm on your side; I'm fighting in the Order and I want him dead just as much as you do. I just don't think we should let the need for revenge stop us living our lives!"

I breathed in deeply and then released it, letting my anger go with it. "You're right, I'm sorry, I'm not thinking properly at the moment."

"It's okay," Severus calmed me.

"Yeah," Peter piped in. "The great thing about a pack is that we won't leave you, even when you're not thinking clearly and snapping at us."

"But we will snap back and tell you to get your head straight," Remus added.

Sirius clapped me on the back and smiled at me, I smiled back but it was a bit strained.

M –

The funeral was hosted a week later. Everyone from the Order was there, and family members that I hadn't even known existed turned up to offer their condolences. At least one member of each pure-blood family came, but that was more for reputation than anything else.

"So you're the new head of the Potter family," one pure-blood had commented, he had a Black family look about him and turned out to be one of Sirius's distant cousins. "Maybe you'll do better than your parents," he paused to sneer. "Or maybe you're a blood-traitor too."

Sirius's hex reached him just after my fist hit his jaw. Edward and Aberforth dragged the stunned man out of the funeral and left him somewhere for his family to claim.

Thankfully, that was the only disturbance of the funeral and seemed to stop anybody else from even thinking of doing anything. It gave me the chance to mourn my parents' loss in peace, and I will admit that punching the stuck-up pure-blood had let me get rid of my anger and was very therapeutic.

Lily was a big help, but I knew that it was bringing back the memories of her own parents dying. I'll admit that I was doing a terrible job at comforting her, but she assured me that if I felt better then she would too.

Zoe, too, had to help Sirius to get through his grief. My parents had basically adopted him the first time he came to my house and they were the parents he never had. He'd even started calling them 'mum' and 'dad' and his biological parents by their names, so he was taking their deaths harder than when his real parents died.

The day after the funeral the Marauders and Zoe all gathered inside Sirius's living room. We sat mostly in silence with the TV playing in the background, but it was a comfortable silence and I could feel the grief lifting off my shoulders.

Sirius stood up suddenly and walked into his bedroom. We could hear him rummaging around for something and I was just about to get up to see what he was doing when he came back in holding something behind his back.

"Zoe," he began nervously, kneeling down on one knee in front of her as she stared at him in surprise. "I'm probably doing this completely wrong, and I'll most likely mess it up, but I've been waiting for the perfect moment to ask you and yesterday I realized that if I wait too long I could lose my chance," Sirius took a deep breath and showed Zoe the little blue ring box from behind his back, opening it so that she could see the ring inside. "Zoe Hurlington, will you marry me?"

She stared at him for a long time and tears began to fall from her eyes and leak down her cheeks before she took the box off of Sirius and placed the ring on her finger. "Yes, Sirius, I will marry you."

Sirius let out a whoop of joy and lifted her off of the couch, spinning her around as we laughed. Lily squeezed my hand and I knew she was remembering the time when I'd asked her to marry me.

"Well, I suppose congratulations are in order," Remus grinned.

"Yeah, I didn't think you'd ever settle down," Peter laughed, clearly remembering our Hogwarts years.

"Zoe, you are the only girl in the world who could tame Sirius Black," Severus smiled.

"I just hope you don't mind dog hair too much," I snickered, causing Sirius to let go of Zoe and pounce on me instead.

Lily sighed fondly. "You lot will never grow up, will you?"

"Not likely," Sirius and I said at the same time before going back to our wrestling match.

"I'm confused," Zoe admitted honestly. "What was that about dog hair?"

Sirius helped pull me to my feet and then looked at me for a second. I heard the invisible question and nodded my head, looking over Sirius's shoulder at the other Marauders.

We all sat down and began explaining to Zoe about werewolves and Animagi and everything else that made up the Marauders, and I could tell through it all that Sirius had never been happier.


	33. Starting Life

Unsurprisingly, Zoe took the fact that we were all illegal Animagi in her stride and asked Sirius if he'd couch her too. Sirius had agreed but we all thought, Zoe included, it was best waiting until after the war.

Zoe joined us as we tried again and again to destroy the locket that we'd taken from Kreacher. We started by discovering everything we could about Horcruxes; a task that fell mainly on Remus, Severus and Sirius's shoulders since Remus was the best at research, Severus had a vast knowledge of Dark Magic and Sirius had been raised in a Dark household.

After a trip to Knockturn Alley, which ended in a lecture from Lily for doing something so stupid on their own, they managed to find a few books on the subject of Horcruxes. As far as we could tell, the only things that could destroy a Horcrux were Basilisk venom and Fiendfyre, but that didn't stop us from trying every curse we could think of to destroy it.

"This is hopeless," Sirius moaned, throwing the locket away from him where it hit the wall with a dull 'thud'. "I think we should give it to Dumbledore; if anyone can control Fiendfyre it's him."

Lily sighed and summoned the locket to her, putting it into a black box that she placed in the corner of the room. Severus had discovered in one of the books that if contact with a Horcrux was prolonged it could lead to the Horcrux possessing the person it had had most contact with.

"This is one of those rare moments when I agree with Sirius," Lily said once she'd finished putting the locket away. She absently stroked a hand across her swollen stomach; the baby was due any day now and we didn't know what gender the baby was going to be, but we'd planned names for both instances.

"Are you okay?" I murmured softly as she lowered herself into a seat next to me. She nodded and gave me a small smile so I turned back to the conversation. "We could tell Dumbledore after the next Order meeting."

"Sounds good to me," Peter muttered, leaning back on his chair sleepily. "Does anyone know when the next meeting is?"

"No, not yet," Remus answered, curled up in his own chair. It had been a full moon two nights before so we were all still a bit tired and sore. Lily hadn't been able to join us so she had worried and stayed up all night again; she hadn't transformed with us since we found out that she was pregnant.

"Well, if that's everything, I've got places to be," Severus stood up and stretched. "I'll probably see everyone tomorrow."

We all either mumbled a goodbye or waved tiredly. Slowly and unwillingly, I heaved myself off the couch and gave Lily a hand getting up. We were currently gathered at Sirius's house since that was where we were keeping the Horcrux.

"We're going to go home," Lily yawned. "Call us if you need us."

"Try not to need us," I muttered. "I really need some sleep."

"We'll do our best," Zoe grinned cheerily, just as tired as the rest of us. She had moved in with Sirius after his proposal and was now rooming with him while Peter, Remus and Severus were looking for houses of their own so they wouldn't be intruding on the couple.

Lily and I apparated home and went straight to the bedroom, it didn't take us long to get changed and climb into bed. Outside, I could hear the church bells beginning to ring for midnight before I closed my eyes and gave myself over to the call of sleep.

Unfortunately, it felt like only two minuets had passed before Lily was shaking my shoulder urgently and calling my name. I reached blindly for my glasses, giving a moan as the clock next to the bed came into view to tell me it was only 5 o'clock in the morning.

"What's wrong?" I asked, waking up instantly when I saw her face; she was pale and sweaty but there was joy mixed with pain in her eyes.

"I think my water just broke," Lily told me in a calm voice. "But don't panic, the healer told us that we have lots of time to get to Saint Mungo's."

I felt like for a second everything froze and then sped up to ten times its normal speed. I got Lily straight to Saint Mungo's and made sure that she was settled in a bed on the maternity ward and then flooed myself to Sirius's house.

"Wake up!" I shouted as I stumbled out of the fireplace. "Lily's water broke!"

Sirius and Zoe were the first ones out of their room, but Remus, Peter and Severus soon joined us in the living room. They all still looked tired and I remembered that it was only thanks to my own adrenalin that I hadn't fallen asleep myself yet.

"Prongs?" Remus blinked owlishly at me. "What's going on? Where's Lily?"

I noticed everyone became wide awake with that question so I hurried to reassure them. "She's fine. Her water broke so she's at Saint Mungo's and I thought you'd like to know." I couldn't hide the grin on my face as I told them. Soon I would have a son or daughter!

"Congrats," Peter yawned. "If you go through we'll meet you there, but I want some Pepper-Up potion first."

The others all agreed and made their way to the kitchen where we kept the medical box. I didn't wait for them to come back, and instead stepped back through the Floo to get back to Saint Mungo's.

"They'll be here soon," I informed Lily as I took a seat next to her bed. "They just stopped to take some Pepper-Up potion."

"Maybe you should have had some too," Lily squeezed my hand. "You look exhausted."

"I don't feel it," I said truthfully. "I just can't wait to hold our child."

Lily smiled at me and settled down against the pillows of the hospital bed. "That makes two of us."

Much to the disgust and annoyance of the Mediwitches, the rest of the Marauders soon piled into Lily's room, conjuring chairs and gathering around the bed. However, the room was meant for two patients and a few moments later another woman and her husband joined us.

"Alice!" Lily exclaimed, reaching over the railings on both of the beds to hug her friend. "I'm so glad that you're here!"

"And I'm glad to see you," Alice smiled. "It seems like our children will be born together."

"That reminds me," Lily took Alice's hand and grinned at her. "James and I wanted to ask if you'd be the god-mother. We don't know if it will be a boy or girl but we've both agreed that we want you as god-mother."

"Oh Lily," Alice's eyes filled with tears as she smiled brilliantly at Lily and I. "Of course I will, I was going to ask you if you'd be Neville's god-mother too. We've already asked Edward to be the god-father."

Frank and Alice had found out that they were having a boy and, after a few arguments about names, decided to call him Neville. They had also become close to Edward; the new Order member who'd been forced to leave his own family.

While Lily and Alice caught up on old news and talked about their children, Frank began a conversation with Remus about what the Ministry could do to stop werewolves joining Voldemort. Frank was an Auror; a very good Auror who often worked with Moody.

"We want you as the god-father," I told Sirius as Alice was taken out of the room to give birth, Frank following after her anxiously. "Lily and I both agreed, and I wouldn't want it to be anyone else."

Sirius swallowed nervously and stared at me as if he'd never seen me before. "James…are you sure? I won't be insulted if you choose someone else, I know I tend to act before I think and I have so many faults."

"I'm sure," I patted him on the back. "You're my brother and I trust you."

"Ok then," Sirius sounded dazed and went to go sit by Lily, no doubt intending to question her as well.

Lily began to get annoyed as the Mediwitches continuously told her that the baby wasn't ready to come out and that they didn't know how long it would take. Eventually, Lily ordered everyone but Zoe out of her room so that she could get some sleep so we all made our way to the Fifth Floor for some coffee.

"What's that?" Remus leaned over and caught Severus's robe sleeve, revealing a small green tattoo wrapped around his wrist; under closer inspection I could see that it was an unanimated snake, it's tail ended on the back of his wrist and it's head was on the back of his hand; it looked like a painted bracelet and was on his left wrist since the right one was taken by his Marauder tattoo.

Severus glanced down at his hand and looked like he was trying very hard not to show any emotion, but a small blush managed to make itself onto his cheeks. "It wasn't a planned tattoo; I just thought it would be a good idea."

"Is that where you were last night?" Peter asked, sounding a bit surprised. "You said you'd had plans."

"Fine," Severus glared at us as if daring us to laugh. "If you must know I've been writing to Linda and she asked me to meet her after she'd finished work. I was looking through the tattoos while I was waiting and saw this one."

"I think that's brilliant that a girl didn't run away from you screaming," Sirius joked bravely, refusing to cower as Severus turned his glare on him.

"So, Prongs, are you hoping for a boy or girl?" Peter asked, wisely changing the subject from Severus's possible love life.

I thought about it for a bit before shrugging. "I don't mind, as long as it's safe, happy, and healthy." My thoughts turned darker as I said the last word.

"Prongs?" Remus asked cautiously, noticing my mood had changed suddenly. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," I murmured. "It's just…what if the baby's not healthy…what if it's like us?"

Remus gazed down into his coffee cup, but it didn't hide the worried guilt that was on his face. "Werewolves don't usually manage to find mates, especially not anyone that would accept them. There's no record of any werewolves having children with non-werewolves; the mother's usually abort the babies."

"So it's possible that my child could end up as a werewolf?" I asked sadly.

"Yes," Remus croaked. "I don't this it will be, but it's possible and you can't test for it without reporting that I bit you…you'll have to wait for the next full moon."

"Don't worry," Sirius clapped me on the shoulder bracingly. "Your child's going to be fine."

"Speaking of which," Severus interrupted. "We should probably go and see how Lily's doing." Nodding, we left some money for the coffees and went back to Lily's room.

– M –

It was the 31st July before Lily went into full labour. Neville was born on the 30th July and Alice had given Lily a quick pep talk before the Mediwitches took Lily to the labour room. I was the only one who was allowed to go in with her so the other Marauders and Zoe stayed behind with Alice, Frank and newborn Neville.

After about an hour, Lily gave birth to what the Mediwitches described as a 'healthy' baby boy, but I decided to wait until the full moon before I could be sure that he really was healthy. I did however choose not to tell Lily about my worries.

"Guys," I walked back into the room Lily and Alice had been kept in and where Alice and the Marauders were waiting for us. I was carrying my son in my arms and Lily was being wheeled into the room by one of the Mediwitches who helped her into the bed. "I'd like you to meet Harry James Potter; the newest Marauder."


	34. Dating Surprise

The night of the full moon was filled with silence and tension as we said goodbye to Lily and Zoe. The girls were going to stay in Godrics Hollow with Harry and watch to see if anything happened. Poppy Pomfrey, the Hogwarts nurse, was with them so that she could run diagnostic spells on Harry if he started to react to the moon. McGonagall was also staying with them because we thought it would be safer to have another Animagus in the room just in case.

As usual, the male marauders went to Sirius's house and transformed in the basement. For me, the full moon passed as it normally did; with lots of pain at the beginning and end and no memory of anything in between.

Lily's grinning face greeted me when I woke up in my room at Sirius's house. My throat was still a bit sore, but Severus passed me a potion for that and told me not to speak for a few minuets until it kicked in.

"He's okay," Lily reassured me. She climbed onto the bed with me and settled down, smiling when Zoe passed Harry to her. "He got a headache when the moon came up, but that's all. The headaches probably can't be treated by potions but if we give him a sleeping potion on full moons he should just sleep straight through the pain."

"That's brilliant news," I grinned at her, taking Harry off her and holding him close. Severus glared at me for speaking but I could see the relief in his eyes too.

"He'll probably get grumpy on full moons when he gets older too," Remus pointed out.

Sirius snorted from his position in the doorway. "Yeah, but most kids get grumpier as they get older."

"Well you definatly did," Peter snickered, yelping when Sirius threw one of his shoes at him. "That's not fair! You know it's true!"

I saw Lily and Zoe exchange glances out of the corner of my eye as Peter and Sirius started playfully bickering while Severus and Remus just looked faintly amused.

"Hey!" I whistled to get their attention. "If you wake Harry up you'll be the ones dealing with his crying."

Sirius laughed and reached over to take him from my arms. "You're no trouble are you, Harry?" Harry blinked sleepily at him and then went back to sleep on his shoulder. "See? He's no trouble for his god-father."

Ignoring Sirius's scowl, Remus plucked Harry from Sirius's shoulder and sat down on the spare chair next to the bed. Guessing correctly that I wasn't going to get my son back anytime soon, I dragged Lily closer to me and kissed the top of her head.

"Our son has so many Uncles," Lily said, smiling at the sight of Remus rocking Harry. "I just hope he only inherits the good traits from each of them."

Sirius barked out a laugh, causing the others to glance up at us. "We'll all teach him different things. Peter will teach him how to eat loads without being sick, Remus can be the person he goes to for homework problems, except Severus will have to help with Potions, James can tell him Quidditch and I'll teach him about girls!"

"Are you saying that I can't help my own son to get a girl?" I raised one of my eyebrows in an impression of Severus.

"It took you six years to convince Lily to give you a chance," Sirius pointed out. "I'm much better for the job."

Lily giggled and wriggled out of my grasp to lean over and talk to Zoe. "This is the point when they start bragging about past girlfriends. But not to worry, we can do the same on the Hen night."

"You'll be talking about past girlfriends?" Sirius waggled his eyebrows. "If so then I definatly want to be at the Hen night."

"You can stick to your Stag party," Zoe stuck her tongue out at him. "I'll be enjoying a lovely night out with just my best girl-friends and a handsome stripper." Sirius spluttered indignantly while the rest of us laughed at him.

With the wedding getting closer it was nice to see that Sirius and Zoe weren't having any doubts. They really were right for each other and Zoe could handle nearly everything Sirius threw at her.

– M –

The Stag party was milder than I thought it would be considering whose party it was. We had a few drinks in a Wizarding pub with some male Order members like Edward and Frank, and then, as best man, I suggested we spend the rest of the night having a Muggle stag party.

By this point we, meaning the male Marauders, were the only ones left, so we went into Muggle London and found a club that seemed promising. We were still quite sober when we went in but that quickly changed. None of us had really had any experience with Muggle alcohol before, so we were all pleasantly suprised at how strong some of it was.

At the end of the night we decided that it would be best to just go back to Sirius's since it was already 2am and we were all too drunk to Apparate anywhere. I managed to stumble through the door while supporting Severus, who had drunk more than me. Sirius was staggering behind me and seemed to find the hallway carpet hilarious while Peter and Remus were singing random Muggle songs.

The girls, it seemed, had had a good night too if the hangover Lily had the next morning was an indicator. We both spent the day after drinking hangover relief potions and thanking Merlin for the fact that Alice was baby-sitting Harry for us.

– M –

It finally got to the day of the wedding and Lily and Alice spent the morning gushing about how cute the children looked in their mini-tuxedos. For the afternoon I met up with Sirius and Remus at Remus's new flat while Lily helped Zoe get ready. Peter and Severus had said that they would meet us at the wedding and left after wishing Sirius good-luck.

"Nervous?" Remus asked, leaning forward to straighten Sirius's tie.

"Not really," Sirius shrugged. "The only thing that could go wrong today is if Zoe changes her mind."

"Aren't you meeting Zoe's family for the first time today?" I thought back to see if either Sirius or Zoe had ever mentioned her family.

Sirius nodded absently. "Yeah, but she's a Pure-Blood and her family's more like mine than yours. They're apparently just glad that she's marrying another Pure-Blood. The wedding will be a chance for our families to complain about their shameful children who got sorted into Gryffindor and mention how happy they are that we at least married each other and not Half-Bloods."

Remus winced slightly. "Sounds like the reception's going to be fun."

"Course it will be," Sirius laughed. "None of our family is invited!"

"Speaking of family," I changed the subject before everyone got depressed. "Do either of you know where Severus and Peter are and why they aren't here?"

"Nope," Sirius said cheerfully. "I bet they're with their dates."

"They got dates?" I asked, trying not to sound too amazed. Judging by the amused look on Remus and Sirius's faces I failed horribly.

"They haven't mentioned anything," Remus shrugged. "It's just a guess."

"Poor Moony," Sirius grinned to let him know that he was joking. "You'll be the only single Marauder left at this rate."

"Moving on from my lack of love life," Remus glanced at his watch. "It's time for you to get married."

Sirius showed hardly any signs of nerves as we waited at the head of the aisle. Members of most Pure-Blood families were scattered around the audience and most of the Order members were in attendance too. I even recognized some of Sirius's ex-girlfriends from Hogwarts.

I saw Peter and Severus sat near to one another but I couldn't catch a glimpse at who they were with before the music started. As the only bridesmaid, Lily led the way down the aisle. She looked as stunning as she had at our wedding, but this time she was holding baby Harry in her arms.

Behind her, Zoe looked radiant in her wedding dress. I thought I could detect a bit of nervousness, but as soon as she saw Sirius she relaxed and smiled at him. Sirius himself seemed slightly dazed as he stared at her.

They'd chosen simple vows and the wedding melted seamlessly into the reception at the end. The Pure-Blood families left without any trouble, muttering as they left about Blood-Traitors and mentioning how glad they were not to be invited to the reception.

Peter and Severus made their way over to Remus, Lily and I while Zoe and Sirius greeted people and I recognized their dates straight away. Stood next to Severus wearing a V-neck dress that proudly showed off her dragon tattoo was Linda Taylor. Peter was nervously holding hands with Marlene McKinnon; an Order member who had shared a dorm with Lily at Hogwarts.

"Well, this is a surprise," Sirius grinned happily as he and Zoe walked over to us. Following behind him was a black haired woman who looked disturbingly like Bellatrix Black; one of Sirius's worst cousins who'd recently married into the Lestrange family. A little girl with bright red hair and a man with brown hair were following behind her.

"It's nice to see you all again," Linda smiled at us. "Congratulations on the wedding."

"Thank you," Zoe shook her hand. "I'm Zoe; I don't think we've met before."

"We haven't. I'm Linda Taylor, I met your husband and his friends when they came to me for some tattoos," Linda explained.

"Are you going out with Severus now? And are you with Peter, Marlene?" I asked curiously, wincing as Lily hit me on the arm for my insensitive question. "You know you wanted to know too."

"I can't speak for Linda," Marlene grinned at me so that I knew she wasn't angry. "But yes, Peter and I have been together for a few weeks now."

"It's the same for Severus and I," Linda looked at Severus happily.

Zoe and Lily grinned at each other. "It will be so nice to have other girls in the group," Lily sighed.

"Oh yeah," Sirius interrupted the girls. "Before I forget, let me present my favourite cousin Andromeda Tonks, her husband Ted Tonks, and their daughter Nymphadora."

"Don't call me Nymphadora," the little girl cried angrily. "It's just Tonks."

Sirius and Zoe left to share their first dance as a married couple. The others joined them on the dance floor until the only ones left from our group were Remus, Lily, Nymphadora, who preferred to be called Tonks, and me. Harry was fussing slightly so we'd offered to look after Tonks for Ted and Andromeda. We found a table that would be big enough for all of us once the others came back and sat down.

"I love the colour of you hair," Lily complimented. "The only other place I've seen this red was in Gryffindor."

I shifted Harry so that he was resting in one of my arms while I took a drink of my butterbeer. I decided to let Lily keep Tonks occupied because she'd probably be the best to deal with little girls.

"Thanks," she beamed. "I changed it to this colour because mum said Sirius and Zoe were in Gryffindor."

"You changed it?" Lily sounded as surprised as I felt.

"Yeah," the little girl looked out at the dance floor longingly. "Mum says I'm Meta-something. It means I can change the way I look."

"Metamorphmagus," Remus said in understanding. "That's an extremely rare gift."

The little girl nodded and proudly changed her hair to a dark purple colour before looking back to the dance floor sadly. Noticing where Tonks was looking, Lily nudged Remus slightly and nodded towards where the couples were dancing.

Catching on, Remus shot Lily a look that clearly told her what he thought of her idea, but he got up anyway and held his hand out to the little girl. "Do you want to dance Nymphadora?"

"It's Tonks," she corrected, but she was grinning widely and jumped out of her seat happily to follow Remus onto the dance floor.

"That's so cute," Lily cooed, taking out her camera. She took photos of all the couples dancing, including Remus and Tonks, before taking a photo of Harry asleep in my arms.

It was a lovely night and a nice break from the war that seemed never ending. Zoe and Sirius didn't go on a honeymoon for the same reasons Lily and I hadn't. Instead, we were going to make sure to give the newly-weds as much alone time as we could like they had done for us.


	35. Soul Splits

The locket seemed to shine invitingly at us from its place on the desk. The engraved S on the front looked almost snake like but for some reason it didn't repulse me like it should have.

We'd all tried many times to destroy the Horcrux but with no success. Unfortunately, we'd had just as much luck with trying to open the stupid thing. I was sure that if we could open it, we could destroy it but it had managed to resist all of our attempts.

As agreed, we'd taken the locket to Dumbledore and explained how we'd come to find it. He'd gotten graver as our story went on until we were sat in silence staring at the locket.

"I am most grateful that you brought this to my attention," Dumbledore began solemnly. "Though I fear this may not be the only Horcrux that Voldemort made."

"There's more?" Lily blurted out in horror, unconsciously hugging Harry tighter.

"We cannot know for sure," Dumbledore leaned forward slightly over his desk, carefully avoiding contact with the locket. "But I believe we know someone who might."

Sirius blinked in confusion. "But wouldn't anyone that we know have told you, sir?"

"Not if he was too ashamed of his knowledge," Dumbledore sighed sadly. "Horace Slughorn taught Tom Riddle when he was in Hogwarts, and he was a favourite of Horace's, much like you were, Lily."

"Who's this 'Tom Riddle'?" Peter asked.

"His full name was Tom Marvolo Riddle before he changed his name to Lord Voldemort," Dumbledore informed us. "He was a student here just as you were."

"Bet he was in Slytherin," I muttered, trying to imagine a young Voldemort.

Severus rolled his eyes and shot me a pointed look. In reply I grinned mischievously and pretended to whistle an innocent tune, causing Lily and Sirius to snicker at us.

"Indeed he was," Dumbledore said, overhearing my mutter. "He was also Head Boy."

Before we could take that bit of information in, Remus suddenly started slightly in his seat and waved his wand in the air, spelling out the words 'Tom Marvolo Riddle' so that the name hovered in the air in front of us until it rearranged itself into 'I am Lord Voldemort'.

"That's how he got his name?" Sirius demanded. "That's ridiculous."

"Can you imagine Voldemort trying to spell something else from his name?" I snickered, imagining him writing out his name and screwing up bits of parchment from failed attempts at creating a new name.

"How can we find out if Professor Slughorn has any information?" Severus spoke up to get us back to the subject.

"I do believe that our best chance lies with you, Lily," Dumbledore admitted, turning to face Lily as she was balancing Harry on her knee.

She looked up and I noticed a determined glint in her eyes. "What do I need to do?"

Instead of explaining, Dumbledore got out a Pensieve and invited us into a memory. I recognized immediately that the memory had been tampered with. It showed a young man, who turned out to be Tom Riddle, talking with Slughorn after one of his Slug Club meetings.

"This was one of Horace's memories," Dumbledore explained. "I started collecting information about Tom Riddle once he'd disappeared and this is one of the memories that I stumbled across."

"Disappeared?" Remus repeated, looking confused.

"Indeed," Dumbledore nodded. "But I will explain everything in due time. I think the most important thing to do at the moment would be to find out what information is hidden inside this memory."

"How can Lily help with that?" Peter frowned slightly to show that he didn't understand.

"She could ask Slughorn for the real memory," Severus murmured in comprehension. "He always did favour her."

We looked towards Dumbledore for confirmation and were rewarded with a brisk nod. I noticed the locket was still sat on the desk and made a quick gesture towards it. "What are we going to do with that?"

"Do you have any ideas?" Dumbledore inquired.

"I think we should find out if there are more of them and then burn them all at once with Fiendfyre," Sirius said bluntly.

"And where would we do that?" Severus demanded critically. "We'd run the risk of losing control and injuring someone if we didn't choose the right place."

"We could use the Shrieking Shack," Remus suggested, sounding just a little eager to burn down the place that held so many horrible memories.

"It's too close to Hogsmeade," I sighed regretfully; I wouldn't have minded burning the place down either and made a mental note to ask permission from Dumbledore to torch the place with normal fire.

Sirius let a sudden glee filled laugh and sat up in his chair. "We could use Grimmauld Place. It's got so many dark charms and protections on it that the Fiendfyre probably won't even damage the furniture."

"Not that you'd complain if it burnt the whole thing down," Remus snorted.

"Of course not," Sirius scoffed. "But you've got to admit that it's a good idea."

"I can't find any problems with it," Lily said thoughtfully.

"It seems as if you have everything already planned," Dumbledore spoke up, making us jump since we'd momentarily forgotten that he was there. "I agree that Sirius's idea is probably the best solution. Can I count on you for the memory, Lily?"

"You can," Lily stood up and pulled me with her. "I shall talk to Professor Slughorn tomorrow, but for now, I'm afraid, we have to go; Harry's falling asleep."

"Of course," Dumbledore smiled at us. "Hopefully tomorrow we will have the answers that we require."

We said our farewells and left the office via Floo after arranging to meet at Dumbledore's office the next day as soon as Lily had gotten the memory and sent a Patronus to alert us.

– M –

It took awhile, but I managed to convince Lily to let me go with her to see Slughorn. The only condition was that I had to stay under the Invisibility Cloak at all times. I knew that I was being over-protective, but I didn't want to let her or Harry out of my sight unless I could be sure that they were safe.

Lily managed to take Slughorn completely by surprise when she walked into his office after classes had finished for the day. She was holding Harry in her arms and was dressed in a knee length emerald green dress with a silver belt and head band.

"Lily!" Slughorn exclaimed joyously. "What a surprise, a pleasant one I assure you. And this must be Harry! He looks just like his father, but he does have your eyes."

"Hello Professor," Lily stepped into the room and closed the door behind her once she was sure that I'd already entered the room. "I hope I'm not interrupting anything."

"Not at all! I was just doing some marking," he offered her a seat and then sat across from her, calling a House Elf to get them some tea. "Third year Gwenog Jones seems to be showing some promise in Potions and she's an excellent flyer."

"I assume she's already apart of Slug Club," Lily mentioned politely. "Is there any relation to Hestia Jones?"

"I'm not sure," Slughorn admitted. "She was a friend of yours, wasn't she?"

"Yes, she was," Lily smiled and settled Harry into a carry cot that she'd transfigured from one of his toys. "I don't know how you do it, sir, but you always find the individuals that have most promise."

"It's just one of my gifts," Slughorn laughed. "I could have taught you it if you'd been in Slytherin."

"Well I'm flattered to have been counted amongst those who you have such high expectations of," Lily smiled at him. "And you always did say I should have been in Slytherin."

"You would have done so well in my house," he sighed. "You have the ambition to do anything it is that you wish to do."

"Thank you, sir, but most of my time is filled looking after Harry nowadays," Lily pretended to be fussing with Harry's blanket as she added innocently: "and, of course, I still have to protect my family from Tom Riddle."

Slughorn gave a slight start at that name and spilled a little of his tea on his hands. "Tom Riddle? I haven't heard that name in a long time."

"I suppose I should have used his new title; Voldemort," Lily took a sip of her own drink as she watched him vanish the spilt liquid. "But let's not talk about him. I brought you a gift; some crystallized pineapple; I know it's your favourite."

He accepted the bag but he seemed quite shaken. It seemed to me that he was still thinking of Tom Riddle and the fact that Lily had given him a bag of crystallized pineapple, much like Tom Riddle had done, only served to bring him to the front of Slughorn's mind.

"Thank you," he murmured quietly, his joyous spirit disheartened by his thoughts. "They are indeed my favourite."

"Your welcome," Lily bent over the cot and picked Harry up. "I wish to ask you a question, though I know you won't want to surrender the answer, but it is not for me that I have to ask."

Intrigued by what she was saying, Slughorn leant forward. "What is it that you wish to ask? I shall answer if I am able."

"I must ask what you told Tom Riddle all those years ago," Lily gazed at him seriously as he jumped up from his seat as if he'd been shocked. "I need to know what you told him about Horcruxes."

"This is Dumbledore's doing!" He exclaimed angrily. "It is for him that you ask this of me!"

"No sir," Lily denied quietly, turning our son around so that Slughorn could see Harry, who now had his eyes open and was gazing at the professor with unusual seriousness. "I ask this for my son."

"How could this possibly help your son?" Slughorn asked desperately, sitting back down but unable to tear his eyes away from Harry. "What use would it be to drag up the past?"

"I don't want my son to grow up without his parents," Lily declared passionately. "I want my son to grow up in a world that isn't at war with parents who will be there for him."

"What do you mean?" Slughorn stammered, voicing my own thoughts. "Why wouldn't he have his parents?"

"James," I could hear the love and affection in Lily's voice as she said my name. "He won't stop fighting until either Voldemort or he is dead, and I will fight with him. We've already caught his attention and I don't doubt that he will come after us, the only thing we can do is be sure that when he does, we have the information we need to win. You hold the key to end this war, if you won't help me then please help my son."

It would be hard for anyone to deny Lily when she looked as she did with tears glistening in her eyes and a baby held to her chest. As I watched, a tear fell from her eye and began its decent down her cheek but she made no move to wipe it away.

"Very well," Slughorn put his wand to his temple and began moving his wand away until he had a silvery strand hanging off of the end of it. He placed the memory in a jar and handed it to Lily before standing up and moving towards the door of the room. "Don't think badly of me when you see it…you have no idea what he was like, even then."

I threw off the cloak as soon as I was sure that he'd gone and Lily sent off two Patronus's; one to Dumbledore and the other to the Marauders who were waiting for it at Sirius's house.

"I almost don't want to see it," Lily admitted as she handed the memory to Dumbledore and watched as it was poured into the Pensieve. "It has caused so many problems."

Nevertheless, we all entered the memory and watched as Tom Riddle asked about Horcruxes and expressed his desire to know more about multiple Horcruxes, more specifically; the ability to create six, leaving one part of the soul, the seventh part, in the body.

"As far as I can tell," Dumbledore started once we'd finished viewing the memory. "Voldemort has only made five Horcruxes so far."

Instead of explaining where he got this idea from, Dumbledore insisted on showing us other memories that he'd collected. They started when Tom Riddle was first introduced to the Wizarding world and continued through to his disappearance after Hogwarts.

We were all horrified that he could have been so evil from such a young age and Lily looked ill when she realized that he'd killed his family before going back to school wearing his fathers ring as if nothing had happened.

Afterwards, we began discussing which items were the most likely to be Horcruxes and the places where they could be. We already had the locket and we knew that if he had found any objects from the founders, like Hufflepuff's cup, that they would be Horcruxes too.

We didn't leave the office until well after midnight. Dumbledore informed us that the only mission we had for the Order was to find the other Horcruxes and destroy them. We couldn't tell anyone what we were doing; just in case there was a traitor. Dumbledore promised to tell the Order that we were already on a mission, and therefore we weren't to be bothered, but if we asked anything then they were to tell us everything they could.

Zoe hadn't been able to join us in any of our meetings with Dumbledore because she had her own missions to do for the Order but Sirius was allowed to tell her everything since she already knew about the locket. Peter and Severus looked a bit depressed about the fact that they couldn't tell Marlene and Linda anything, but they were both hopeful that the girls would understand.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The memories mentioned are from Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince.


	36. Future Told

I can safely say that the last thing I expected to see in the middle of the night was a flash of fire and Fawks the phoenix appearing above my head, letting out a loud cry and circling endlessly over our heads.

"Lily," I nudged her to make sure she was awake. "Go get Harry; I think Dumbledore needs us for something."

She looked up at the phoenix and nodded, leaving the room in a hurry and coming back in with Harry in her arms; he was still asleep and I realized it was only 3am.

"Are you sure we should take him with us?" Lily worried, waving her wand over our pyjamas to transfigure them into jeans and t-shirts.

"I don't think Fawks will let us drop him off at Sirius's," I noted. "Dumbledore must want us quite urgently."

Fawks let out another small cry and then disappeared in a flash of fire. I exchanged a glance with Lily before grabbing a pile of Floo powder and stepping into the fireplace.

I caught Lily as she stumbled on arrival in the Headmasters office. Surprisingly, Frank, Alice and baby Neville were also sat in the room in front of Dumbledore. We quickly took a seat next to them, shooting a confused glance at them that they shrugged at.

I'd thought that this meeting would be something to do with the Horcruxes, but if that was so then the other Marauders would be here, not the Longbottoms. I took Lily's hand as she tightened her hold on Harry; it couldn't be a coincidence that the only people at the meeting had children the same age.

"I apologize for disturbing your night," Dumbledore began gravely. "But I stumbled upon some very important information that I believe concerns all of you. Last night I was interviewing someone for the post of Divination. It wasn't a very promising interview and I was preparing to leave when she began to recite a prophecy. When she'd finished, she couldn't remember saying anything which is often a sign of a true vision."

Dumbledore waved his wand and his Pensieve moved closer to us, with another flick of his wand a figure rose out of the liquid like surface. The figure was a thin pale woman covered in shawls and bangles; she wore a pair of thick glasses that magnified her eyes.

The woman didn't look like a genuine seer, but as she began to speak a shiver of unease ran down my spine and I felt Lily tighten her hold on my hand. "The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches ... born to those who have thrice defied him, born as the seventh month dies ... and the Dark Lord will mark him as his equal, but he will have power the Dark Lord knows not ... and either must die at the hand of the other for neither can live while the other survives ... the one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord will be born as the seventh month dies ..."

There was a moment of silence that was only broken by a choken noise coming from Alice. Unlik Lily, who didn't have much faith for Divination, Alice was superstitious about most prophecies and even refused to read her horescope incase she jinxed herself.

"Are you sure that this is a real prophecy?" Frank asked in a tight voice. He had his arm wrapped around Alice to try calm her down.

"I am positive," Dumbledore declared quietly. "We were luckily not overheard, but if knowledge of this should get to Voldemort, you shall all be in danger…especially the children."

"What can we do?" I asked immediately. "What do you think we should do?"

"I believe it would be best for you all to go into hiding, cast the Fidelius Charm and choose someone that you trust without a doubt to be the Secret-Keeper," Dumbledore said, steepling his hands together and looking over his glasses at us.

"We can't go into hiding," Lily protested before I could. "We have a mission to complete!"

"As do we," Alice sobbed. "But Neville…my baby!"

"We'll give Neville to my mum until we know we're safe," Frank decided, tightening his hold on Alice and Neville. "I'll be the Secret-Keeper."

"Is it possible to use the Fidelius Charm on just one room of a house?" Lily asked curiously.

"It would probably take more effort and concentration than the normal charm," Dumbledore mused. "But it should be possible."

"I'll cast the Fidelius Charm on Harry's room," Lily told us, looking down at her hands. "Sirius can be the Secret-Keeper. That way if anything happens to us he can find and look after Harry." Her voice broke as she was speaking and she leant against me, I felt her tears soaking into the material of my t-shirt.

I knew that all she wanted to do was cast the Fidelius Charm on our home and stay there; safe and hidden. But we had a mission to complete, and it was more important than our lives, no matter how much it would hurt to protect our child while knowing that he could be orphaned.

Dumbledore nodded sadly at our decisions and said nothing else as we got out of our chairs and walked back over to the fireplace. Lily handed Harry over to me before moving over to Alice, Frank took Neville as the girls hugged and cried.

"Look after Neville if anything should happen," Alice sobbed. "Don't let him grow up without a mother figure."

"Of course I will," Lily cried. "I promised I would when I agreed to be his god-mother. Look after Harry?"

"I promise I will," Alice took Harry off of me and gave him a quick cuddle before handing him back as Lily did the same with Neville.

"We'll get through this," Lily wiped her tears away. "And I'll see you once all this is over. Our sons will grow up together and we'll both be there to see it happen."

They hugged one last time before Alice and Frank stepped into the flames and disappeared. We turned back to look at Dumbledore, ready to ask if we could tell the Marauders, but Dumbledore guessed what we were going to say and just told us to tell them.

We flooed straight to Sirius's home, not realizing what time it was. Sirius charged into the room with his wand aloft and Zoe hidden behind him, he opened his mouth to cast a spell before he saw that it was just us.

"Prongs? Hart?" Sirius stepped further into the room and let Zoe come back out from behind him. "What's wrong?"

"Can you get the others here?" I asked tightly, keeping a hold of Lily and Harry.

Noticing Lily's tears and the fact that I was barely controlling my own emotions, Sirius went straight to the Floo and began gathering the rest of our pack. Zoe wnt over to Lily and sat her down on the couch. I followed them numbly and took a seat next to Lily, handing Harry over to her before she could ask.

Once everybody had arrived and sat down, I began explaining what Dumbledore had told us, including our own plans. Everyone wanted us to just go into hiding without worrying about the mission but we stuck to what we'd agreed and eventually got them to drop it.

Sirius agreed to be the Secret-Keeper so we went straight to Godric's Hollow and set the charm up. Dumbledore was right; it took more effort than we'd thought to do. Lily was the one who cast the charm since she was the best one at Charms. Sirius had to tell us where the room was so that we could access the room whenever we needed to and then we told the other Marauders as well, just in case.

"If Voldemort ever finds out that I'm the Secret-Keeper," Sirius began, we were back at his house; gathered in the living room. "He'll come after me. That doesn't worry me, but if he find the Horcrux then we're all doomed."

"Where else can we hide it though?" Peter asked.

"It would be just as unsafe is any of our homes," Remus pointed out thoughtfully. "We've been lucky no one's discovered it here yet."

Severus looked to be in deep thought as he added his opinion. "What about hiding it at Hogwarts?"

"Where in Hogwarts?" Zoe wondered.

"We could put it in the room we used for Animagi training," Severus explained. "If we asked for a place to hide something I'm sure it would give us a suitable room."

"It's safer than just putting them in the Shreiking Shack," Remus nodded. "I think it's a good idea."

"As long as we can find it again," Peter said dryly.

Sirius snorted. "Thanks for that positive thought, Pete."

"Sorry," Peter blushed. "I just thought it should be pointed out."

"It's fine," Lily reassured him. "It was actually good thinking, but we're going to have to take that risk."

"But we should probably do it tomorrow," I interrupted, glancing at the clock. "Otherwise none of us will have gotten any sleep."

We all agreed to stay the night at Sirius's, and went to bed immediately so that we'd get at least a couple of hours sleep before we had visit Hogwarts again. Zoe volunteered to stay behind and look after Harry which was a relief for Lily and I because we didn't want him anywhere near the Horcrux.

Dumbledore let us use his office to get to the school. We didn't tell him where we were going because he thought it would be best if he didn't know where any of the Horcruxes were hidden. We told him that we needed access to the school for our mission and that was all he needed to know.

As we walked up to the room I relived memories of our years at Hogwarts. I was half expecting to see McGonagall or Filch and his cat around the corner but the corridors were empty because of the summer holidays.

"We need a place to hide something," Lily repeated as she paced in front of the wall where the door to the RoR would appear.

After passing in front of the wall three times, a big door appeaed on the wall as if it had always been there. We entered the room and gasped in amazement; the room was full of stuff that people had hidden over the years. There was old broken furniture, books, dusty glass jars and even a few weirdly shaped skeletons.

"We need to choose somewhere that we'll remember," Severus stated, looking around in wonder.

"There's an empty box here," Peter called out. We wandered over and saw that he was holding the lid of a box up. The box was made out of dark wood and looked like a Muggle bedding box.

"Perfect," I grinned. "We just need something to put on top of it so that we don't mix it with the other boxes in here."

Sirius let out a small cheer and walked over to us carrying a rusty sword. Before we could ask what he was planning, Sirius lifted the sword and stabbed it into the lid of the box so that when the lid was closed the box looked like a strange version of the sword in the stone.

"Well done," Lily murmured in surprise.

Remus came forward and placed the small box that held the locket into the bedding box. Peter closed the lid and smiled at the sight of the sword sticking out of the box.

"At least we have somewhere to hide them now," I muttered. "Anyone fancy a look around?"

Lily and Severus rolled their eyes as Sirius let out a shout and ran deeper into the room. Laughing, Remus, Peter and I ran after him. I heard Severus mutter something to Lily that made her giggle before they followed us at a slower pace.

Severus and Remus began looking through all the books that they could find while Sirius and Peter examined the various weapons. Lily linked hands with me as we walked around the piles of junk. She'd occasionally stop to look at pieces of jewelry but didn't pick anything up.

"Hey Lily!" Sirius called us over. "Do you want a tiara?"

Curious, we went over to him and saw him gesturing at a tiara that had a blue sapphire shaped like an oval in the middle of it. Something about it tickled the back of my mind; as if I should know more about it, but I didn't know what.

"That's not a tiara," Remus said using his lecture voice. "It's a diadem."

"Diadem?" Lily repeated in a strange voice. "Like the 'lost diadem of Ravenclaw'?"

We all blinked at her and then turned to stare at the diadem in wonder. "It can't be," Peter said. "We can't have found another Horcrux that easily."

I stepped closer to it and leaned down to see the diadem in more detail. "Wit beyond measure is man's greatest treasure," I read. "This is definatly Ravenclaw's diadem."

"How will we know if it's a Horcrux?" Sirius asked. "We can't just destroy it if it's not a Horcrux; it's one of Hogwarts only heirlooms."

"There's a spell that reveals whether an object is dark or not," Severus suggested. After checking to make sure we all agreed, he cast the spell on the diadem and then covered his ears as it began wailing. Dark smoke floated from the sapphire for a few seconds before everything went silent.

"I'm going to guess that means it's a Horcrux," Sirius rubbed his ears and scowled at the innocent looking object.

We placed the diadem into the bedding box with the locket and then left the Room of Hidden Things, heading back to Dumbledore's office. Without hesitation, we told Dumbledore that we'd found another Horcrux in the shape of Ravenclaws diadem and that we'd hidden it with the locket.

"I believe I might be close to finding another one," Dumbledore informed us. "But I need to do a bit more research before I can be sure."

After agreeing to keep him informed, we flooed back to Sirius's house. Lily and I collected Harry off of Zoe and then went back to Godric's Hollow. It had been an eventful night and day and we both needed some more rest.


	37. New Paths

It took Dumbledore two weeks to contact me about the Horcrux he thought he'd found. He said I didn't have to go with him, but I stopped him before he could continue trying to persuade me.

Lily didn't want me to go without someone else from the pack but the only Marauder we could get hold of was Severus who told us that he couldn't because he had an important meeting; something that might help us to find other Horcruxes.

After arguing for a few minuets, I managed to convince Lily to stay at home with Harry while I went with Dumbledore. She only let me go after I promised to be careful and come back home. I knew that she was feeling helpless but we both agreed that Harry had to be her priority until the war was over.

I took the Floo to Dumbledore's office; Dumbledore was stood waiting for me in front of his desk holding a silver kettle in his hands. He gave me a quick greeting before informing me that the kettle was a portkey that would take us to the Horcrux.

The portkey spat us out on the edges of a town, I looked around curiously but Dumbledore continued walking to the edges of the town, heading towards the poorer side.

"Where are we?" I inquired while I hurried after him. "Something about it seems familiar."

"I'm sure it does," Dumbledore smiled. "We are in Little Hangleton."

It took a moment for the name to click. "This is where Voldemort's parents came from!"

"Indeed," he nodded, gesturing to a shack slightly ahead of us. "I have reason to believe that Voldemort has hidden a Horcrux in his mothers' old house. After all, who would ever think to check an old shack in a muggle town?"

As we drew nearer to the shack, I noticed that the dead snake from the memories we'd seen was still nailed to the front door, but that it was nothing more than bones. I jumped slightly and drew my wand when the snake twitched before guessing that it was just the wind.

My guess was proved wrong once we entered the garden and the snake began to hiss threateningly. Dumbledore shot a few flames at the snake until it was burnt and dead for good.

"Inferi," Dumbledore explained. "One of the only ways to stop them is with fire."

I nodded and committed it to memory, even while hoping that I never had to use the information. The idea of Inferi creeped me out; the dead should stay dead as far as I was concerned.

We had to break through a few wards before we could enter the shack. Dumbledore thought that the Horcrux would be in one of the small bedrooms; most likely the one that used to belong to Voldemort's mother.

His idea got more and more likely as we had to break through some stronger wards to get into one of the smallest bedrooms and the further into the room we went the stronger the feeling of Dark magic got.

Eventually, we found a loose brick in the farthest corner that pulled out to reveal a ring. I recognized the ring as the Gaunt family ring but didn't get close enough to examine it properly,

"Is that it?" I asked, I already knew that it was; it had the same Dark feeling to it that the other Horcruxes had had, but I wanted to make sure. "Dumbledore?"

Instead of answering, Dumbledore leaned forward and picked the ring up; it looked like he was in some kind of trance as he stared at the ring. I could hear a quiet ringing noise and realized it was coming from the ring.

"Dumbledore?!" I shouted over the noise. He made a move to slip the ring onto his finger so I pointed my ring at him and fired off the first spell I could think of to get the ring away from him. "Expelliarmus!"

I was forced to duck as the ring was ripped from Dumbledore's hands and began hurtling towards my head. Normally, I would have just caught the ring, but if it was powerful enough to ensnare Dumbledore, I didn't want to take any chances.

"Dumbledore," I kept my wand trained on him as the glazed look began to leave his eyes. "What happened?"

"I had to put the ring on," Dumbledore sounded older than he usually did, but he also sounded lost. "Everything inside me was telling me to put the ring on; I didn't even try to fight it."

"It must have a compulsion charm on it," I told him, lowering my wand. "Can you break it?"

Dumbledore pointed his wand at the ring and broke the charm before nodding at me to pick it up. I noticed that he was still looking at the ring with a faint longing in his eye so I placed it into the bag we'd prepared for it and then shoved the bag into my pocket.

"I think, perhaps, it would be best if you kept this Horcrux," Dumbledore sighed. "The temptation is too strong for me to see that ring again."

I didn't argue, instead I just reached out and placed my hand on the kettle so that the portkey could take us back to Hogwarts. We'd been gone for a few hours, but I'd thought it would have taken us longer than it did and it wasn't as dangerous as I'd thought either. Lily would be pleased.

"I'll put it with the others," I told him once we were back in his office. "We can destroy it after we've got the others."

Dumbledore sighed mournfully but nodded before telling me that I could go. I made a quick run to the RoR to put the ring away and then left Hogwarts grounds so that I could apparate back home to Godric's Hollow.

Everyone was gathered in the living room when I arrived. Lily placed Harry in Remus's lap and then tackled me into a hug. I hugged her back and nodded at the others over her shoulder.

"Thank Merlin you're okay!" Lily gushed, pulling back so that she could check that I wasn't injured. "What happened?"

"Give him chance to breathe, Lils," Sirius laughed, reaching over and yanking on the back of her jeans so that she fell onto the couch next to him. "How'd it go then, mate?"

I took a seat between Remus and Lily and then launched into a description of what had happened. They were surprised that the only problem we'd come across had been Dumbledore becoming enchanted by the compulsion charm, but they were also relieved that no one had gotten hurt.

"What about you, Severus?" I asked, turning to look at my pack mate and then frowned as I realized someone was missing. "Wait, where's Peter?"

"He's at the hospital," Zoe answered sadly. "A Death Eater attacked Marlene."

"Is she okay?" I questioned. Peter seemed to really care for Marlene and she seemed to like him back which was rare for Peter since he was so shy. Marlene was a nice girl and part of the Order; I hoped she was okay.

"She's fine now, just in shock," Remus explained. "If Peter hadn't been there she would have died. His tattoo alerted him the Death Eater that was behind them just as he shot off the Killing Curse."

"Thank Merlin neither of them got hurt," I sighed as the others mumbled in agreement.

"What were you saying about Severus?" Lily asked, I guessed she was just trying to distract us but it worked.

"Oh yeah!" I smiled at her before looking at Severus. "You said you had a meeting with someone who could help us."

Severus shifted in his seat and sighed. "Okay, don't overreact, but I had a meeting with Narcissa."

There was a sudden explosion of sound. Harry woke up and began to cry which just added to the noise. I shot off sparks from my wand until everyone had quietened down and then waited for Severus to continue.

"I said not to overreact," he glared at us as Lily calmed Harry down and got him back to sleep. "I met with Narcissa because she sent me a letter and I had reason to believe that what she said was true."

"What did she say?" I asked quickly before anyone could comment, nudging Sirius when he opened his mouth to argue.

"She said that she wanted to meet and talk to me, which I agreed to," Severus continued over our comments. "She said that she wanted to help our side of the war. She doesn't support Voldemort and while she doesn't agree with Dumbledore, and she still doesn't like muggle borns, she wants to protect her son. Lucius can't know anything though."

"How can we trust what she says?" Remus asked. "She could be lying to spy on us."

"She's agreed to drink Veritaserum and be questioned by Dumbledore," Severus told us. "I sent Dumbledore a letter, we're going to his office tomorrow and Narcissa will meet us there."

"How will this help our search for Horcruxes?" Sirius demanded. It was clear that he still didn't like that Severus had gone off on his own to meet with a potential Death Eater, but he trusted him enough to let it go.

"Lucius is one of Voldemort's most trusted Death Eater, is anyone knows about Horcruxes it will be him, and by default, Narcissa," Severus grimaced. "Whether she's on our side or not though, she's still a nightmare to talk to." We snickered and just like that the tension left the room.

"Well, if that's everything, I'm going to go visit Peter and Marlene and make sure they're okay," I stood up and stretched, offering Lily a hand up. "Who's coming?"

Zoe and Severus declined and Lily said she wanted to put Harry to bed, so Remus, Sirius and I apparated to Saint Mungo's. Marlene had been given a small dose of a Sleeping Draft and a Calming Potion, she was fast asleep by the time we got there, but Peter was sat at her bedside, still awake.

"How're you doing?" Sirius clapped him on the shoulder and smiled at him as we lifted him off of his feet and practically dragged him from the room.

"Hey! Guys! What are you doing?!" Peter protested. "I have to stay with her! What if they come back for her!?"

"Don't worry, Pete," Remus soothed. "There's Order member all over and we're only taking you to the café; if you're planning on playing guard then you're going to need some coffee."

Peter protested a little more before accepting that what we said was true and sitting down at one of the tables in the café. We spent at least an hour with him, cheering him up and making sure that he was alright before he told us to go home and get some sleep so that we'd be ready for the meeting tomorrow. We'd told him everything that had happened and he said he'd be there tomorrow, but he wanted to stay with Marlene for the night.


	38. Switched Loyalty

Severus was right when he said that Narcissa was just as bad as she used to be. All the Marauders plus Zoe were gathered in Dumbledore's office when the flames in the fire flared green and Narcissa stepped out gracefully.

She took one look at us and sneered before perching on the edge of the spare seat. She was wearing silver and green robes that practically screamed 'expensive'. She exchanged greetings with Dumbledore, but looked like she wouldn't have if there'd been another choice.

"Severus has been kind enough to provide us with the Veritaserum needed for this meeting," Dumbledore motioned Severus forward and accepted the vial that he held out.

"I'm not drinking anything until I know it's safe," Narcissa sniffed disdainfully.

Sirius huffed out a sigh and shot her a glare. "I'll test it."

A few drops of the potion were tipped into Sirius's mouth and ten we waited a few seconds as it took effect. We knew as soon s it worked because Sirius's eyes glazed over and his body went slack.

"What's your full name?" I questioned when Dumbledore motioned for me to do the questioning.

"Sirius Orion Black," Sirius intoned, his voice was flat and held no emotion. It was strange to hear Sirius talking like that; he was usually so expressive.

"Is that enough proof for you?" Remus asked Narcissa. After a small pause Narcissa nodded stiffly and allowed us to give Sirius the antidote.

"Your turn!" Sirius grinned at his cousin once the antidote had kicked in. "Completely painless."

Narcissa reluctantly allowed us to administer the Veritaserum; we all watched as her stiff posture slackened and her eyes glazed over. We'd planned what questions we were going to ask before she'd arrived, so we were ready by the time the potion had her under its spell.

"You told Severus you want to help us defeat Voldemort," Lily began. "Is this true?"

"Yes," Narcissa admitted, completely expressionlessly.

"Why?" Peter asked curiously.

"The Dark Lord treats his followers the same as he treats Mudbloods," Narcissa told us. "I know that if he's not defeated, my son will follow in his fathers footsteps."

"You're willing to give us all the information we need?" I demanded. "You'll answer us truthfully?"

"Yes, I will," Narcissa said. "To protect Draco."

"I think that's everything" Remus sighed. "Was there anything else we needed to ask?"

We shook our heads so Severus stepped forward and gave her the antidote. Dumbledore smiled at her as she came around before standing up and leaving us to talk to Narcissa. We thought that she might answer easier if Dumbledore wasn't there.

Sighing slightly, I turned to face our new informant. "Does Lucius know what you're doing?"

"No," she shook her head. "He believes the Dark Lord will lead us to power. He'd kill me if he knew I was here."

"What do you know about Horcruxes?" Severus asked.

Surprise flickered across her face before the emotionless mask was back. "I know that they're some of the darkest magic and that they grant immortality, but only at the highest price. Why?"

"Is that all you know?" Remus pressed, ignoring her question.

"Yes, that's everything," Narcissa frowned. "Why?"

"Has Voldemort ever given your husband anything that could relate to a Horcrux?" I demanded. The others looked at me funny but I guessed that if Lucius was high up in the Death Eater ranks then Voldemort might have trusted him with a Horcrux.

"You think the Dark Lord has created a Horcrux?" Narcissa gasped, paling.

Sirius smiled bitterly. "We know he has. More than one. Now answer the question."

"He gave Lucius a diary," she admitted. "He said that one day he'd tell Lucius to trick a Hogwarts student into using it. The diary would posses the student and open the Chamber of Secrets."

"That sounds like a Horcrux," Zoe pointed out. "Can you get this diary and bring it to us?"

"Yes," Narcissa looked a little shaken. "I can get it."

"Good," Peter sighed. "Has Voldemort ever given anyone else anything suspicious?"

There was silence as Narcissa thought. "He gave Bellatrix a golden cup to put in her vault at Gringotts. He said he'd kill her if anything happened to it. I remember because she was so thrilled at being chosen to help her Lord."  
Immediately, my thoughts went to the memories we'd seen about Voldemort and the cup that went missing after a House Elf had been accused of killing its Mistress. The chances of it being the same cup were too big to doubt. If we could get the two Horcruxes that Narcissa had told us about then we'd have got them all.

"Do you have access to your sisters' vault?" Lily asked urgently.

"No, only the head of her husband and head of family have access other than her," Narcissa looked puzzled. "But as the last surviving male heir, Sirius is her head of family."

"Thank Merlin for Dark families keeping the old traditions!" Sirius cheered.

"Dumbledore might have a few questions for you," Severus told Narcissa. "But the first thing you need to do is get us the diary as soon as you can."

"When Lucius gets summoned I'll be in the house on my own, I can get it then," Narcissa promised. "Where should I take it?"

Remus handed her a piece of parchment, it had a picture of a phoenix on it. "Here. It's a portkey; the password is 'Phoenix Flight'. It will bring you here."

She looked at it disdainfully before folding it up and slipping it into her pocket. "If that is all, I will be going now."

We let her go and then sent a Patronus to tell Dumbledore she was gone. He came back into the room and we recounted everything that we'd heard. He was pleased to hear that we only needed to get the last two Horcruxes and that we knew where both of them were.

Sirius went straight to Gringotts from the office while the rest of us waited in the RoR. We saw no point in going home just to come back to Hogwarts if he managed to get the cup and we didn't want to wait in Dumbledore's office.

Remus, Severus and Lily were reading through the books that were around the room and seeing if they could find any interesting information while Peter and I played chess with a broken chess set.

We must have spent on hour there and we were getting worried before Sirius burst through the door with a small sack. He had a bandage around his hand and looked to be out of breath.

"I got it!" He exclaimed before placing it into the trunk with the other ones. "I had to do a blood test to prove I was the head of family and then I had to hide because I saw Lucius. Speaking of which I bumped into Narcissa when I arrived in Dumbledore's office; Lucius told her he'd be gone all morning so she got the diary and gave it to me. Dumbledore's questioning her now about Voldemort's plans."

It took a second for everything he'd said to click. "We've done it? That's it, we've got all of the Horcruxes?"

Sirius nodded, still trying to catch his breath. "Yeah but we need to destroy them quickly because Bellatrix checks the cup is still there every two days. Luckily, she'd already checked today, but she'll know it's gone soon."

"Isn't it Halloween in two days?" Peter asked.

"Yeah," Remus said. "And it's the full moon a few days after."

"Well then," Lily clapped her hands together. "We'd better destroy these now."

"Did we manage to decide on where to destroy them?" Severus asked curiously.

"My old house," Sirius told him. "It had enough wards on it to stop the fire spreading and I'll be happy to see it go, I've already freed Kreacher to get him out of the way."

I cast a quick Feather Light charm on the trunk and then grabbed the chess board we'd been using. I turned the board into a portkey and everyone grabbed hold of both the board and the trunk.

The portkey spat us out in front of Grimmauld Place. We took a second to look at the old house; everything about it reminded me of Dark magic. Sirius kicked the front door open and dumped the trunk in the hallway.

"Let it burn," Sirius announced, pointing his wand at the open door. We followed his example and pointed our wands at the trunk sitting inside the house. Flames shot out of our wands, the flames were the shapes of animals and they seemed to come to life as they raced forward and hit the house.

The trunk containing the Horcruxes melted away, allowing us to see the objects as they were devoured by the flames. We feel to our knees as a loud screeching filled the air that I knew was the Horcruxes screaming. One by one the objects burnt away until all of them were destroyed.

We waiting outside the house until the Fiendfyre slowly went out; everything was burnt away. The place where The Noble and Most Ancient House of Black once stood was now nothing more than a pile of ash. Sirius seemed to be relieved as he looked at the damage we'd done.

"That's it," I said numbly. "We've done it. Voldemort's mortal again."

We took another portkey back to Dumbledore's office and celebrated as we told him what we'd managed to do. The war wasn't over, but we were one step closer to victory now that we could kill the enemy.

Unfortunately, we all knew that on Halloween Voldemort would realize what we'd done. We could only hope that he wouldn't know it was us that had caused so much damage to his soul.

I smiled at Lily as we collected Harry from Marlene. She was hopeful that everything would be okay, but I had a feeling in my gut that something was about to go horribly wrong.


	39. Destiny Transferred

"Trick or treat!"

I smiled as I listened to Lily gush over how nice and scary the Muggle children looked all dressed up in their costumes as she gave out sweets. Neither of us had smiled very often today; we were too worried about the consequence of Voldemort finding out that all of his Horcruxes were destroyed.

Harry was safe in his room under the Fidelius Charm but Lily and I were still mostly unprotected with only our wards to keep us safe. As much as I didn't want to, I had to leave Lily alone so that I could go to an Order meeting.

Lily promised that she'd stay inside Harry's room with him so that she'd be safe but there were so many things that could go wrong. My only consolation was that Voldemort shouldn't know who it was that destroyed his Horcruxes.

"You have to go," Lily sighed as she stepped back into the living room. "It's nearly time for the meeting to start."

"You'll stay with Harry, right?" I questioned, having to reassure myself. "You'll keep hold of your wand and stay under the Fidelius Charm where you'll be protected."

"Yes, James," Lily answered softly, not getting annoyed even though I'd asked the same thing nearly every hour as it got closer to the time when I had to leave. "I promise. Now go, or you'll be late."

"I love you," I told her as I pulled her towards me for a kiss. The feeling that something was going to happen was still strong and all of my instincts were screaming at me not to leave her.

"I love you too," she murmured, pushing me towards the fireplace. "I'll be here when you get back."

I took a deep breath and stepped into the fireplace, saying my destination in a clear voice as the flames turned green. I got one last look at Lily's face before I was spun around in the Floo and spat out at the Order's headquarters.

Sirius, Remus, Severus and Peter were easy to find once I entered the meeting room; they were sat at the back of the room and they all looked nervous. Severus, Peter and Sirius seemed to be upset about something and I realized I couldn't see any of the girls with them.

"Hey," I took a seat next to Sirius. "Where are the girls?"

"We convinced Marlene and Zoe to stay with Linda tonight," Severus explained. "We figured that since Linda had been part of the Order for the shortest amount of time that her house would be the safest for them."

"It took a while to convince them though," Sirius muttered. "They wanted to stay with us."

"How did you manage to get them to agree?" I wondered out loud, thinking of Lily who had stubbornly refused to leave my side and go into hiding.

Peter ducked his head and blushed a little. "We told them that we needed to be alone with our pack."

Remus and I blinked in surprise. "I didn't even know Linda knew we're werewolves," Remus commented, gesturing to him and me.

"I didn't tell her," Severus said quickly. "I was planning on asking you if I could but then she confronted me about it and told me she already knew."

"It doesn't matter," I reassured him. "She hasn't run away from us screaming yet so I'm guessing she doesn't mind."

"She was nervous," Severus admitted. "But Zoe and Marlene talked to her and she was planning on talking to Lily before all of this."

Dumbledore stepped into the room before we could continue our discussion. Stood next to him was Narcissa; she had tears streaming down her face and Draco was clutched in her arms. Thankfully, Draco seemed to be asleep and oblivious to his mother's distress since Narcissa didn't look like she'd be capable of looking after her son at that moment.

Severus stood up when he saw Narcissa and we all followed him over to her. Narcissa was completely different to the last time I'd seen her; instead of the Pure-Blood attitude she normally had, all that was left was a woman that looked broken.

"What happened?" Severus questioned once we reached her. Narcissa turned towards him and I saw that her eyes were dead but her arms were still tightly clutched around her son in desperation.

"He found out," Narcissa whispered. "The Dark Lord…He found out they were gone…The Horcruxes…He came to L-Lucius…He was so angry…" She broke off with a sob before taking a deep breath and continuing. "He killed him…Lucius is dead…I grabbed Draco and used the Portkey to escape…"

"You're safe now," Severus soothed. The rest of us stayed back, stood by Dumbledore, because we knew that she would react badly to anyone else at that moment. Severus was the only one she trusted.

Sirius exchanged a look with Peter before passing an object to Severus. Severus looked surprised before nodding and smiling in thanks. I noticed that the object was a small silver pendant of a lion.

"Here," Severus passed the pendant to Narcissa. "This will take you to a safe house. My partner; Linda, is there. I promise you and Draco will be protected."

Her hand gripped the Portkey tightly, but she didn't activate it. "He knew…He said P-Potter…He knew you'd destroyed them…He was so angry…"

I felt the blood drain out of my face and noticed everyone turn around to stare at me in horror. "Lily," I choked out. Ignoring the others as they called my name, I spun around and threw myself into the Floo.

I tumbled out of the fireplace but I didn't stop, I raced towards the stairs shouting Lily's name as I went. I was halfway up the stairs when I heard a definitely female scream coming from the direction of Harry's room.

I don't think I'd ever run so fast. I got to the top of the stairs and saw Lily fall through the door of Harry's room; she had blood running down her chest and seemed to be unconscious. Voldemort was stood nearly exactly in front of the bedroom door, but thanks to the Fidelius Charm he couldn't see where Lily had gone.

I shot a curse at Voldemort but he realized I was there and put up a shield. He probably would have stayed and killed me; I certainly wasn't in any position to fight him and win when I was so worried about Lily, but the others had followed me and Voldemort knew he couldn't fight us all off. I managed to shoot a Tracking Charm at him before he disappeared.

"Lily!" I shouted desperately, running into the bedroom. I heard Sirius telling the others where the bedroom was so that they could find the door but I didn't pay attention.

Lily was collapsed on the floor; her top was soaked in blood that was coming from a large gash across her chest. She was unconscious but I was relieved to find a pulse. I heard Harry crying behind me.

"Severus," I called him over to me. The others came over with him. "Take her to St Mungo's. I'll follow; I just need to get Harry."

Severus nodded and picked Lily up carefully, apparating with her once he was sure she wouldn't move in his arms. I would have trusted any of the members of my pack to look after Lily, but I knew that while Severus may not be in love with Lily like he used to be, he still loved her more than any of the others and would want to be with her.

Remus helped me to stand up and then followed Severus to St Mungo's with Peter. Harry got quieter as I walked over to him. I reached into his crib and picked him up carefully. As soon as he was in my arms Harry glowed with a white light, before I could panic the light transferred to me and then stopped.

"What was that?" Sirius demanded, coming over to us. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," I told him numbly. I was perfectly fine physically so it wasn't a lie, but emotionally I felt cold and drained. Sirius must have noticed because he took Harry off of me and told me to go to Lily. He promised to take Harry to Zoe where he'd be safe and then meet me at the hospital.

It felt like weeks had passed before I reached Lily's hospital room, she was awake and sitting up but there were bandages covering her chest and she still looked extremely pale. A weak smile made it to her face when she saw me before she frowned in concern.

"Harry?" She croaked when I stepped into the room.

"He's fine," I reassured her, taking her hand and sitting down on the chair by her head. "Sirius has taken him to stay with Zoe. How are you?"

"I've been better," she squeezed my hand. "But the Medi-Witch said I'll be fine and the gashes should heal in a couple of months if I keep taking the potions they've given me."

"I was so worried," I told her; I didn't notice the tears on my cheeks until she moved her hand to wipe them off of my face. "I thought I was going to lose you."

"I'm fine, I'm alive," she cupped my face softly. "I'm not leaving you."

"But it's not over yet," I told her, I could feel the anger building up inside of me. "As long as Voldemort is alive you're still in danger and the longer we leave it before going after him the longer he has to create more Horcruxes."

"I know," Lily sighed. "But we don't know where he is."

"I do," I admitted. "I hit him with a Tracking Charm. I can't lose you."

"You can't go after him alone," Lily protested, struggling further up of the bed. "I know you want to protect me, but I don't want to lose you either!"

"We'll go with him," I turned around to see the others standing in the doorway. They all looked determined and Severus had Lily's blood on his robes, it made me wonder how bad I looked but I found that I didn't really care.

"I want to go too," Lily begged. "Please don't leave me here to wonder about whether or not you'll ever come back."  
I took one of the lion pendants off of Peter and handed it to Lily. "You're injured; if you came I would have to protect you and worry over you. You'd be a distraction," I ignored the hurt on her face, knowing that she would see that I was right once she was thinking clearly. "I love you."

I activated her Portkey and watched as she disappeared. Linda's house would probably be full to bursting by now, but at least they'd be safe. The Medi-Witch that was looking after Lily stormed into the room to see what had happened to her patient but I ignored her and led the way out of the room with the others instead.

I didn't bother to ask whether or not they were sure they wanted to come; I knew that I wouldn't be able to stop them if I tried and we didn't have time for pointless words. It was time to end this pointless fight, even if it meant our deaths.


	40. Powerful Feelings

There was no way of sneaking up on Voldemort; we didn't know where we were apparating to or how many Death Eaters would be there and we knew that when we arrived they'd hear the sounds of our apparation. Even knowing all that, the others followed me without hesitation as we apparated at the same time.

We landed less than a couple of meters away from Voldemort and a circle of his followers. They looked up at our arrival and raised their wands. Voldemort looked briefly surprised before it changed to amusement.

"Come to die?" He taunted, throwing his arms open and staring right at me before turning back to his Death Eaters. "Potter's mine. Kill the rest."

Just because he'd told them not to kill me didn't mean I was safe from the Death Eaters as they began to fire at us. Stray curses occasionally brushed by me and since I was determined to stand with my pack, I had to duck a lot of the worse hexes that my shield couldn't take.

Before I could realize it, I'd been pushed away from the main fight and was stood in front of Voldemort as the fight continued on around us. None of the spells came near us; it was like we were in our own bubble of protection.

Voldemort began to taunt me as he drew closer but I didn't stop to listen to what he had to say. The only thought in my mind was of Lily lying broken on the floor and that the one responsible for it was in front of me. I threw every spell I knew at him without pause; it didn't matter what spell it was or what it did, as soon as it entered my mind I said it out loud and fired it at him.

He would have laughed at most of the spells if I'd given him time to, instead he was forced to block everything because he couldn't be sure which spell was harmful and which wasn't. I was getting tired and knew that I was depleting my magic too quickly but Voldemort was doing the same. He was firing back at me with curses that held more power than any of my spells.

I threw a Tickling Hex at him and didn't even try to stop the hysterics that poured out of my mouth as I thought of what would happen if it hit. Predictably, Voldemort blocked it with no problem and shot the Cruciatus Curse at me.

Thinking quickly, I didn't try to dodge the curse and instead let it hit me. Pain exploded inside me, spreading threw my body as if every cell was on fire. It was as bad as the full moon transformation but I didn't scream out or thrash about. I held myself completely still with a skill that only comes from feeling excruciating pain every month.

The curse stopped and I opened my eyes. I was lying on the floor with Voldemort standing over me; his wand was pointed at me but held loosely in his hand, as if he thought I wasn't a threat anymore. Exactly what I had wanted.

"Are you ready to die?" He asked, the hatred dancing in his red eyes made him look even more manic than usual.

I leapt up, snatching the wand out of his hand. My body protested at the movement and if I hadn't been a werewolf and therefore used to the pain, I wouldn't have been able to get up from the floor. "Are you?" I snarled back at him.

I pointed his own wand at him and pushed my power through it. I could hear a phoenix singing coming from the wand as the Dark magic it had been used for was cleansed; it gave me the strength I needed to continue pushing my magic into the wand.

The magic in the wand reacted to mine and a white glow shot out of the end and hit Voldemort in the chest. The white glow changed to black as soon as it touched him and then grew so that it looked like an aura.

Screaming began behind me, forcing me to spin around with my wand raised. I stared in amazement and dropped my wand at what I saw. The Death Eaters were on the floor screaming with their left arms curled to their chests as if injured and the other Marauders were staring at each other and me with fascination.

They were glowing, like Voldemort they each had a colour surrounding them like an aura, but instead of black they each had a different colour. I checked my own arm and was astonished to see it was glowing a red that I knew instinctually went around my whole body.

It only lasted a couple of minutes before the colours changed to pure white and then faded away as if they'd never been there. I turned around to face Voldemort slowly; I somehow knew what I would find behind me.

Voldemort was lying dead upon the floor. He was still glowing slightly but instead of the pure white that had enveloped us, his aura was a dirty grey that had black streaks going through it. I dropped Voldemorts' wand and picked my own back up, relieved that my wand still accepted my magic. The aura faded away as soon as I dropped Voldemorts' wand and I could hear the others walking up to me.

"Is he dead?" Peter asked nervously, his wand still pointed at the body.

"Yes," I nodded. "He's dead. It's finally over."

I could feel the joy welling up inside of me but I ruthlessly pushed it away, refusing to celebrate until I knew Lily and Harry were safe. I could tell that the others were thinking the same as they gave me small smiles that didn't cover the anxiousness in their eyes.

"What about them?" Severus waved a hand towards the Death Eaters that were unconscious on the floor. "What should we do with them?"

"Give them to the dementors," Sirius said, glaring at the bodies. "It's what they deserve."

"Not all of them," Remus protested. "You know from the Order reports that some of them could have been under the Imperius Curse."

With a sigh, I transfigured one of the Death Eater masks into a piece of paper and another one into a pen. I quickly scribbled down a note and then read it out loud to the others. "Dear Minister, Voldemort's dead. Here are some Death Eaters. Question all of them with Veritaserum. From Messrs Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, Prongs, Whisper, and Ms Hart."

I pinned the note to the closest Death Eater and then created a Portkey, watching as they disappeared to the Ministry. "You know they're going to go crazy searching for our real names?" Sirius snickered.

I shrugged and pulled out my lion Portkey, gesturing for the others to hold on. "Let them search, we've done our bit."

The Portkey activated but instead of sending us to Linda's house we ended up in Dumbledore's office where Linda, Marlene, Zoe and Lily were waiting for us with Harry and Dumbledore. The girls threw themselves at their partners while Remus took Harry.

"Lily!" I picked her up and spun her around. "We did it! He's gone!" I put her down and frowned as I thought. "What are you doing up? You should still be healing!"

"I'm fine," Lily laughed as the other guys turned to look at her as well. "I'm completely healed but we don't know why."

"It was strange," Zoe commented. "She began to glow green and then white. It was like an aura and once it was gone she was healed. Harry glowed white as well."

I exchanged looks with the guys and then began explaining that the same thing had happened to us, realizing while I was talking that none of us were injured or felt tired even though I knew I'd been hit more than once and nearly used up all of my magic.

"I believe I can help explain this," Dumbledore smiled at us over his half-moon glasses. "But first, did anything happen when you picked Harry up, James?"

I jumped, remembering suddenly how he'd glowed as I picked him up and that the glow had transferred to me. I told Dumbledore and he nodded, his eyes sparkling happily.

"Magic," he began explaining. "Is often described as being alive. I believe it agreed with James when he said that he had to end the war. White symbolizes divinity and the life force, or in this case the transferal of destiny. Magic originally chose Harry to be the one to defeat Voldemort, but it seems that it decided to give his destiny to you instead, James."

"We need to tell Alice," Lily declared. "She can come out of hiding."

"Mrs Longbottom is currently at Saint Mungo's with her husband. Neville is being looked after by his grandmother," Dumbledore told them, continuing before we could ask any questions. "Some of Voldemorts followers tried to torture the Longbottoms' about the identity of who killed their Lord. Luckily, Mr Cornfoot had planned to see his godson that night and managed to fight them off before any permanent damage could be done."

"Thank Merlin they're okay," Lily murmured, relaxing against me and hugging Harry close.

"What about the colours, sir?" Remus questioned, leaning forward. "Can you explain why we all glowed a different colour?"

"Indeed I can, Remus," Dumbledore said cheerfully. "It is rare that our inner aura is ever presented for others to see, there is a spell that can reveal it but only if it has already been revealed before. The fact that all of your auras were shown and not just James's is no doubt because of your tight bond as a pack."

"If you do the spell can you tell us what the colours mean?" Peter asked eagerly, blushing as we all turned to look at him. "I just thought it would be interesting."

We all nodded are agreement so Dumbledore waved his wand over us. "Interioris scintilla," he cast. Immediately, we started to glow again. I admired my red aura mixing with Lily's green one and then frowned as I saw that Harry didn't have an aura, though he did look fascinated with ours.

"Red," Dumbledore began. "Is known to signify action, passion and survival."

"Sounds like you, Prongs," Sirius snorted, drawing my attention to him. His aura was orange and made him look like he was on fire, next to him Zoe was running her hand over the glow curiously and looking at her own normal hand.

"Orange symbolizes confidence, joy and independence," Dumbledore continued with a glance towards Sirius. "It can also mean a strong identity."

"Well the confidence is right if nothing else," Remus said dryly. I had to blink a few times while I was looking at him because his aura was a yellow that seemed to glow brighter than anyone else's.

Sirius stuck his tongue out of him as Dumbledore carried on. "Yellow represents logic, thoughts and all kinds of knowledge."

"We always said you were the smart one," I laughed. "This just proves it."

"Green means love, harmony and nature," I tugged Lily close and kissed the top of her head. I thought her aura matched her perfectly. Dumbledore turned to look at Severus and I followed his gaze; Severus was encased by a blue glow. "Blue is for the seeker of truth, ideals and authority."

"Authority?" Lily repeated with a giggle. "Maybe you should be a teacher, Sev."

"What about me?" Peter asked hesitantly. His aura was a pale grey and he seemed more nervous than usual as he waited for Dumbledore's meaning.

"Grey signifies adaptability, compromise and the ability to merge into the background," Dumbledore told him. "It can also mean the keeper of secrets."

"Compromise?" Marlene raised an eyebrow teasingly. "You seemed pretty stubborn when you insisted I stay with Linda."

We grinned at each other as Peter tried to protest and defend himself. For the first time in years we could safely relax fully without fearing the risk of being attacked. I let a small chuckle escape my lips as I thought about how the ministry would be searching for us without knowing who we were and leaned down to tell Lily about the note I sent.

She laughed when I finished, her laughter sounded brighter and more carefree. Love welled up inside of me as I looked at her and as Harry waved his arms in the air for attention I thought I might explode with the feeling. Everything finally seemed to be just right.


	41. Epilogue

13 years later…

As usual, as soon as our group made it to Platform 9 ¾ the platform felt much smaller than it should have been. It only got worse as friends and their parents came over to greet the children and everyone separated into their little groups.

I suppose it was lucky that the Ministry had found out who had killed Voldemort in the end; as fun as it had been watching them run around trying to find their so-called Saviour, no one could deny that being the Wizarding Worlds hero had its benefits.

One of the most surprising benefits had been the new laws on werewolves and other magical creatures; they were no longer treated badly or left without jobs, since Rita Skeeter had somehow managed to find out my secret. By that time though we'd already registered as Animagi and Remus had been a known werewolf for a while.

The fame came in handy when we were waiting on the platform because everyone left us with a lot of room. The novelty of staring at us had worn off but they still treated everyone in my pack with respect and gratitude.

"Prongs," Sirius nudged me in the ribs with his arm. "Check it out; the Potter curse strikes again."

I looked over to where Sirius was pointing and snickered out loud. Harry was stood talking to Ginny Weasley; a red-headed girl in the year below him who also happened to be his best friends' only sister. I couldn't hear what was being said but Harry was running his hand through his hair in a familiar gesture from my own Hogwarts days and Ginny looked as impressed as Lily had.

Harry's two best friends; Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger were stood next to them, Hermione was trying to distract Ron who was glaring at Harry for flirting with his sister. Luna Lovegood and Neville Longbottom were laughing at them all; they were best friends with Ginny and always seemed amused by Harry's attempts to ask Ginny out.

Harry, Ron, Hermione and Neville were starting their fourth year at Hogwarts while Ginny and Luna would be in their third. Luna was the only Ravenclaw in the group since the others were in Gryffindor.

"Red heads," I sighed. "The downfall for all Potter men."

"Did you hear that, Poppy?" Lily laughed, looking down at my red-headed daughter. "We're the downfall for Potter men. That means your brother and dad have to do whatever we say."

"Can I order Arthur and Oliver around too?" Poppy asked, sending a smirk to her two friends who shook their heads at her.

Poppy, Oliver Longbottom and Arthur Black were all at their second year of Hogwarts but Poppy and Oliver were in Ravenclaw while Arthur was in Gryffindor. The great thing about having a big family and pack was that all the children had grown up together, so while they did make other friends, they all knew people the same age as them already.

"I'm going to be in Hufflepuff," I heard Chloe Black telling someone proudly behind me. I turned around to see her talking to Lucy Snape and Astoria Greengrass; two third year Slytherins'.

"Why Hufflepuff?" Linda, Lucy's mum, asked curiously. "You're brother's in Gryffindor."

"Because Connor's in Hufflepuff," Chloe stated as if Linda was silly for not already knowing. Connor Pettigrew blushed and pulled his friend away from the adults, tugging her instead towards where Poppy and Oliver were talking. I couldn't see Arthur but I was sure he was somewhere in the group of children.

Zoe and Marlene exchanged glances as Peter and Severus came over to join Sirius and me. I looked around for Remus but couldn't find him either in the throng of people. The Weasleys' were mixed into our group with the Longbottoms' and Hermione's Muggle parents who no longer seemed overwhelmed by everything like they had done in their daughters first couple of years.

"Chloe's determined to be in Hufflepuff," Sirius snorted. "My parents will be turning in their graves; a Black in Hufflepuff!"

"She might not get sorted there," Peter pointed out. We thought it over for a second before shaking our heads. If Chloe got anything from her dad it was his stubbornness and it helped that she was incredibly loyal. I had no problems seeing her getting sorted into Hufflepuff and neither of her parents cared where she chose to go.

"Has anyone seen Remus?" Severus questioned, voicing my own thoughts. "I wanted to talk to him before the Welcome Feast."

Severus was the Potions Master at Hogwarts, a job he seemed to hate and love at the same time. Remus, too, worked at Hogwarts as the DADA teacher; when Voldemort died the curse on the job faded away and Remus was going to start his tenth teaching year there.

"Hey!" There was an excited shout from the side. We turned to see Arthur running up to his friends and moved closer to see where he'd been and what he wanted to tell everyone. "I just saw Uncle Moony kissing Aunt Dora!"

Sure enough, following behind Arthur were Remus and Nymphadora. Remus was blushing under the stares and Tonks's hair was a bright pink. Grumbling slightly, Sirius and Peter handed Severus and me a couple of Galleons.

"You bet on this?" Remus demanded, sounding shocked.

"Please," Tonks snorted, changing her hair to a bright yellow. "They bet on everything, I'd have been surprised if they hadn't bet on us."

"You couldn't have waited two more years?" Peter moaned. "I was so close to winning!"

"Betting is a very bad thing to do," Lily told the children who were watching us. "You're Uncles and Dads are idiots for doing it, don't be like them."

There was sniggering as more people joined our group. Edward Cornfoot was there with his son; Dean Thomas, his ex-wife and her new husband. Edward was on good terms with his ex and his son once he'd explained why he'd left them. By the time he found them she had re-married but agreed that Dean should get a relationship with his real father.

Seamus Finnigan; Deans' Irish best friend was with them. Dean, Seamus, Neville, Ron and Harry were all roommates so they'd all come to the house more than once and were friends with everyone. Every year someone else seemed to be added to our already giant family; we had more members than the Weasley family, even though we weren't all related by blood, and the Weasley family was included in our group.

"There's going to be something going on at Hogwarts this year," one of the Weasley twins was telling the others. "Percy was dropping hints all summer but he refused to tell us anything!"

There was outbreak of noise as everyone claimed that their parents had done the same while the adults exchanged amused looks. I knew that one of children must have known what was going to happen so I waited to see what their reactions would be.

"I know about that!" Astoria exclaimed, sticking her tongue out at Lucy when her friend demanded to know why she hadn't been told. "The Triwizard Tournament is going to be held at Hogwarts this year!"

"No way!" The twins shouted in sync before high-fiving each other and laughing. They ran off to find their friends and spread the news while everyone else turned to look at Hermione; she wasn't a Ravenclaw but was still declared as the smartest one and the eldest so whenever someone needed to know something they went to her.

"Honestly," she rolled her eyes. "Don't you read?" Harry and Ron mimicked her behind her back as she spoke. It was obviously something she asked them quite often and the younger students giggled at them as she turned to glare at her friends.

"Ignore them," Luna told her in her distinctive dreamy way. "They're covered in Nargles."

It was a mark of how used to Luna everyone had gotten that no one reacted to this odd statement and instead just nodded and stared at Ron and Harry as if they too could see the Nargles floating around them.

"What were you two doing hanging around mistletoe?" Ginny asked innocently before laughing at their horrified faces.

"I'll make you a Butterbeer cork necklace each," Luna said sincerely. "That should keep them away."

"Thanks, Luna," Harry muttered awkwardly before clearing his throat and turning to look at Hermione. "You were saying, Hermione?" Hermione giggled at him but accepted the subject change and began describing the Triwizard Tournament.

The Hogwarts express let out a loud noise to tell people that it was time to get on causing the children to wave goodbye to their family and climb aboard the scarlet train. Sirius closed his eyes and grabbed the first child that went past him.

The unlucky child this year was Lucy. One of us would do this every time one of the children was going to join Hogwarts which meant that the children didn't know who to avoid because we swapped it every year.

It was the chosen child's job to make sure they got a picture of any members of the family being sorted and any other photos of important moments. The first year when Harry started, he and Neville had had to take pictures of each other and any friends they'd made.

The job had gotten easier as Colin Creevey; a Muggle-Born in Ginny and Luna's year, joined Hogwarts. He loved taking photos and could easily be persuaded to capture everything, even if it was things no one except the parents wanted photos of.

"I'll ask Colin," Lucy sighed and grabbed hold of Astoria, dragging her away before we could ask them to do anything else.

"I don't think you have to ask him anymore," Astoria commented as they walked away. "I think he just takes the photos automatically now."

As if to prove her point, there was the sound of a camera going off inside the train and Poppy's voice begging someone not to take anymore photos accompanied with the sound of laughter. Lucy rolled her eyes and stepped onto the train after Astoria.

A few minutes later there was a flock of hands waving from the windows as the train set off. The Weasleys' left saying something about getting the house ready for Charlie coming home and the Longbottoms' left to see Franks' mother.

Severus and Remus had to Floo to Hogwarts so that they could prepare for lessons the next day, Linda went back to the tattoo parlour that she'd taken over when her boss had died, Marlene and Zoe had a girls day planned and soon the only ones left were Lily, Peter, Sirius, Tonks and I.

"It's going to be strange with Chloe gone," Sirius sighed, staring after the long gone train. "The last of this generation at Hogwarts."

"Cheer up, Padfoot," I slung my arm across his shoulders and winked at Tonks. "There are always Moony's kids!"

Sirius barked a laugh and cheered up. "True, but until then we better get to the Ministry or Moody will curse us."

"Constant Vigilance!" Tonks, Sirius and I shouted at the same time. Peter and Lily laughed at us as we all walked to the Floo. The five of us worked at the Ministry so we tended to arrive at work together whenever we'd been together before.

Peter worked as an Obliviator and was still trying to catch up on all the paperwork that was caused from the Quidditch World Cup, Sirius and I had both chosen to become Auror's since we had so much experience fighting Dark wizards and Lily worked in one of the research centres.

Even with all of the different jobs we all had and the amount of fuss involved when we all got together, I was looking forward to the Christmas holidays when we would all be there once again with, possibly, some new friends of the kids. It was a good job we had the Potter Mansion for family get togethers' because nowhere else could hold that many people.

I knew though, that no one would trade any of it for anything. After everything we went through, we all deserved the hectic peacefulness that comes from having a big family.


End file.
